The Grand Rapids Press ran an article on Jeffrey David DeYoung. Jeffrey is a 35 year old dad who will be spending the next 2-6 years in prison. He racked up $105,000 in unpaid child support and apparently had developed a track record for paying only when hauled into court, and then as little as possible. In recent years, his five children by two mothers received token support payments after each of the 8 times Jeffrey was jailed for failing to make his support payments.
Doug Guthrie and Barton Deiters write (excerpt):
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“I want to make it clear to others that if you get that far in the hole on child support, prison is waiting,” Kolenda told DeYoung at sentencing Monday. “So, they shouldn’t get into the hole.”
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Dave Sarnacki, chairman of the Grand Rapids Bar Association’s committee of family law lawyers, said parents who truly cannot afford child support often neglect to attempt to have the court order adjusted.
He said a large number of people are out of work or financially overburdened. Meanwhile, the weekly nonpayment bill piles up. Getting a change in the support order takes time and money, in lawyer’s fees. Some, Sarnacki said, simply give up or don’t even try.
“It can get to the point where there is really a ridiculously large amount owed and no real ability to pay it,” he said. “I have no knowledge of this particular case, but I believe the attorney general is after people who have manipulated the system while having means to pay. That is necessary.”