Consequences of Contempt in Child Support Cases

Today I’m answering the question, why would a father need to pay the mother’s attorney fees when there is a contempt action on child support? Hi, I’m attorney Clint Hastings. I practice here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I focus on fathers’ rights. So a contempt action is where she files a motion against you to collect child support and to coerce you by threat of punishment to pay the child support you owe and to keep up current child support payments.

A lot of guys get behind one way or the other and maybe there are long time passes where she doesn’t file anything on you or doesn’t even act like she’s going to do anything over the fact that you haven’t paid. However, once they file, they get an attorney or they can do it themselves, they file an application for contempt. Once you’re kind of in that loop, if you are guilty of contempt, which means you willfully disobey the orders to pay the child support, you almost always are going to end up having to pay her attorney’s fees for that contempt motion and for having to compel you to pay the fees.

Understanding Contempt Actions

Now how much could that be? That could be as high as $5,000. It could be as low as a few hundred dollars. It kind of depends on where you settle or if you have to have a full trial. Sometimes if you think you have a defense, we’ll take it to a full jury trial. You may or may not win, but if you don’t win, then you are going to owe them a good chunk of change for that jury trial. So if you can, absolutely, you either need to keep up those child support payments or talk to your attorney how to either modify them downward temporarily, let’s say you’re out of a job or something, or to modify them permanently if your income circumstances have changed.

Schedule a Consultation

Watch for other videos and we’ll address more questions like these. For a low-cost consultation, contact Tulsa Dads.Law attorney Clint Hastings at 918-962-0900.