Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
As in sixty years late?
Fights over children — who gets custody, how much for child support — are at the heart of any family law court on any given day. The faces change, but the stories and disputes rarely do.
So it is on today’s docket in the Los Angeles courtroom of Judge Elia Weinbach. At least on paper. The dispute between Rosemary Douglas and Urban Joseph Grass over back child support seems familiar: She claims he never paid; he says he never knew.
In this case, however, the mom has a head of gray hair and has been collecting Social Security for more than a decade. The father was born in the heart of the Jazz Age, when a fellow named Coolidge resided in the White House. And the “child” in question is that only on some yellowing piece of paper. In real life he is a retired grandfather.
“He was ordered to do something. He didn’t do it,” said the 81-year-old Douglas. “He didn’t challenge it, not legally anyway. I’d always thought about this. It was never far from my mind. Finally I decided, why not? Why not try one more time?”
The story began in 1950. Douglas got pregnant and was not married. She insists Grass was the father and that he wanted nothing to do with her. After her son Gerald was born, she said she went to court to get an order for child support because she had no alternative.
:
Now a widow, Douglas said she could use the $57,000 that she claims Grass owes her, which includes ever-rising interest. But more important than the money, she said, is the principle. When she managed to locate him in Texas, she hired a process server to deliver court papers.“If a judgment is rendered, you have to satisfy that judgment,” she said. “He owes this.”
Well yeah, if he really owes it then go to town granny. I do think he’s entitled to a test, especially if you’re socking him with interest. And the “could use the money” part is really objectionable I must say…especially in view of said interest.
I got slammed by something like this, and it wasn’t child support. My child support payments are made typically early…which is out of necessity…that’s a story I’d rather not get into. But this other thing on which I was technically in arrears, having to do with the creditor’s lawyer popping out of the bushes after decades, demand letter in hand, charging as much interest as is technically possible — that was messed up. I found out through that experience that lawyers routinely advise their clients to do this. Hunker down for a dog’s age, let the interest rack up, and then ambush the bastard and charge him through the nose.
It’s a word to the wise. You’re responsible for knowing the “final” situation involved with each transaction beyond the shadow of any doubt, even if life’s eddies and currents don’t make that easily manageable. Your idea of “final” might not really be final. I learned it, and I learned at a discount because I fought that gouging and I mostly won. But I was lucky.
Great argument for tort reform. And yes I’d include child support in that. “Could use the money”? This contradicts the spirit of American civil law, IMO. Wrongs should be redressed, but if one party’s financial comfort is an issue before the court and the other’s is not, then the parties are not on equal footing. Getting slapped with sixty years of interest when you’re a retired light-colonel and 81? Yikes.
The “child” is a grandfather. Hehe, that’s rich.
Oh well. Hope there are some opportunities to stay tuned into this one. Although I doubt it…and something tells me all things are not necessarily as they appear.
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Am I wrong in thinking that this would make an awesome episode of Maury Povich?
- Rich Fader | 04/06/2010 @ 08:56I do have one question.
If the child for whom the support is intended reaches the age of 18…what exactly is the point of the mother going to court to collect “back” child support? The kid’s already an adult and not entitled to a damn thing. The mother is just going to pocket the money at this point and consider it her just-due for having taken care of the kid herself. Evidently she got through the childhood without the husband’s help, so why does she need the money now?
In my world…if you can’t get an enforceable judgement against the father by the time the kid is 18, you’re shit outta luck. Statute of limitations and all that.
- cylarz | 04/08/2010 @ 01:24You probably haven’t dated single mothers before. That’s a good thing, but if you’d gone through the experience you’d already have the answer.
In my world, if one person is raising a child that is the responsibility of another, then that other is getting hunted down until the end of time so the first party can be made whole. If he’s 150 years old and shipwrecked with fucking Gilligan, a boat will be dispatched and it will find its way.
Know what I find fascinating? If you’re a dude, and you’ve been swindled through paternity fraud, as I understand it most states will pretty much handle it in the way you just described. If you are a damsel, and got dumped because your belly was starting to stick out…in that situation, child support is then handled in the way I just described. The civil justice seems to depend greatly upon the gender of the person seeking it.
- mkfreeberg | 04/08/2010 @ 05:59