Supporters are hoping the recently approved changes to Massachusetts’ “archaic” alimony laws will trigger successful alimony reforms in other states. One of the driving forces behind alimony reform is Elizabeth Benedict, a journalist and novelist whose op-ed piece in the Boston Globe in 2008 helped the Massachusetts alimony reform movement gain momentum. Current alimony laws are written to be gender neutral, but the fact that...
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Child support collections in Mississippi have increased by 61 percent over the past 8 years due to increasingly aggressive enforcement tactics and an incentive program that rewards coming after men. Oh, and if you can’t pay because you’re unemployed, then “get a job.” The Clarion-Ledger reports Mississippi’s Division of Child Support Enforcement collected $314 million in fiscal 2011 compared to $195 million in fiscal 2003....
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Michael Turner, jailed for a year because he could not pay child support, was deprived of his 14th Amendment right to due process. However, the court also ruled indigent civil defendants facing jail time have no automatic right to counsel, according to the ABA Journal. Turner is from South Carolina, one of a handful of states that jail indigent...
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Nowadays debt is a very common issue among American households, particularly for men. Men carry more debt than women, $12,953 compared to $11,486 on average, according to Experian, which provides credit information to consumers. From these numbers it’s quite natural to see that men in the U.S file more defaults and get more threatening calls than women. This article is an attempt to depict what...
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A proposed law in Missouri would eliminate child support in joint physical custody cases where the child would be spending equal or substantially equal time with both parents. However, both parents would need to sign an agreement consenting to no child support, the difference in the verified incomes of the parents must be less than 25 percent, and a finding must be made that such...
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A Texas bill could help exonerate men from their duty to pay child support in circumstances involving mistaken paternity and paternity fraud. If the alleged father can prove through DNA testing that the child he is ordered to pay support for is not biologically his, then he would be released from his child support obligation, according to Texas Senate Bill 785. The bill was passed...
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In a stand for father’s rights, Ohio is being sued over claims that the state has over collected more than $176 million in child support payments in violation of state statutes and federal regulations. The class action lawsuit against Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) alleges the over collection of payments was wrongfully taken from more than 114,000 child support payers, the majority...
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Indigent fathers who owe child support but do not have legal counsel may no longer be thrown in jail when they cannot pay. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in March in a South Carolina case where a man was jailed for one year for failing to pay child support. South Carolina is one of a handful of states that jail indigent child...
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A long-awaited alimony reform bill filed with the Massachusetts Legislature has won the approval of the Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA). The Alimony Reform Act of 2011 would bring time limits on alimony orders and enact fair and equitable alimony in the state, according to the MBA. Massachusetts’ current alimony law does not have a limit on the duration of an alimony award, does not clearly...
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It’s no secret that men and fathers battling for equal rights face an uphill battle in a family court setting. Lary Holland recognized this, but also saw more of a problem with family courts as a whole within the country. So he started Get Your Justice Live, which originally was a podcast about the local laws and policies that he distributed to government employees.