While most people focused on the Supreme Court video game ruling, an equally important case went pretty much unnoticed. This case affects millions of families, in particular, children. Turner vs. Rogers dealt with deadbeat dads and is more commonly known as the ‘deadbeat dad case.’
According to the Washington Post :
The justices ruled in a 5 to 4 decision (PDF) to uphold the appeal of Michael Turner, a father who had been jailed for a year because he did not — he said could not — pay the nearly $6,000 in child support payments he owed. The court decided that Turner’s incarceration violated the due process clause because he had not been told that his ability to pay was crucial to the case and the court never determined whether Turner could, in fact, make his child support obligations.
The Turner case addressed one of the biggest problems in the national child support enforcement program. Though most sentient adults agree parents need to meet their child support obligations, enforcement rules often don’t recognize the reality of financial situations.
A noncustodial parent might have lost a job, as millions did in the recession, but it’s doubtful his or her payment schedule changed at all. It can be a slippery slope from provider to deadbeat.
Upon first glance (see PDF link) the original defendant, one Mr. Turner of South Carolina, is not a very sympathetic figure. I felt he deserved to be jailed. However, he was not represented by an attorney and he got caught up in a real legal catch-22. He had to be out of jail in order to make money to pay his child support. This guy was ordered to pay $52.73 per week. That might not seem like much to some people. To others, it is a fortune. Throwing a person in jail who has this few assets seems to be self defeating.
