Around New Year’s, most people aspire to close challenging chapters from the previous year and they look forward to opening new chapters in the next year. Particularly when it comes to child support issues, both parents may want to put aside their differences and work in the best interest of their child.
Michigan residents’ familiar with rap artist DMX may find it interesting to learn that, according to music media sources, DMX recently settled a child support case with the mother of his now 11-year-old daughter. Reports indicate the rapper was struggling to meet his child support obligations for years. In this particular case, the mother of DMX’s child wanted nearly one million dollars in back child support. As a result of his failure to pay his obligation, DMX was prevented from getting a passport. Not having the ability to travel for concerts and the like directly impacted his ability to make money.
The rapper is the father of 11 other children and, according to reports, even though he has publically acknowledged being millions of dollars behind in child support, he noted that all his children are taken of and that he has a loving relationship with them. Even though the details of the settlement are not available, reports indicate DMX settled the one million dollar child support case so he could continue to pursue his career prospects abroad.
As evidenced by this case, non-payment of child support can negatively impact the non-custodial parent and penalties for non-payment can range from restrictions on one’s driving privileges, freezing of one’s passport and even jail time. Most parents understand that when they bring a child into this world they have a responsibility to help financially raise that child. Yet, when one parent refuses to do so, an attorney may be able to help recover the much needed money.
However, there are times when a non-custodial parent may be unable to pay child support due to unforeseen events such as an unexpected and substantial change in their income. In such cases, rather than doing nothing and potentially suffering the negative consequences of non-payment of child support, the parent may want to consult with a family law attorney and consider filing a motion for modification of child support.
Source: HiphopDX, “DMX settles a $1 million child support case with a mother of his children,” Paul Meara, Dec. 28, 2013
