Women protest jailing people for not paying alimony

Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2012-10-30 23:54

Article here. Excerpt:

'Three women carrying protest signs marched back and forth in front of the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington for several hours on Friday morning, Oct. 26, criticizing the state’s Family Court. In particular, they objected to putting people in jail for not making required alimony payments because they didn’t have the money.

“Free John Waldorf from Debtor’s Prison,” read one sign. The protest was organized by Deb Frank of Washington Crossing, Pa. Waldorf, her boyfriend, is a former Califon resident, in jail since Oct. 17 because he was only paying $5,500 a month, while he was under a court order to pay $8,000.
...
“But it’s not just this judge, this is throughout the state” that in her view people are being treated unfairly by the courts, said a good friend of Frank’s, Shelia Taylor of Ocean Grove, Monmouth County, who joined her in the protest. Also taking part was another close friend, Janice Klug of Newtown, Pa.
...

A passerby, Mitchell Jakubowski of Lebanon, said “I can’t agree with you more” about the protest as he told his own tale of woe about ending up in jail for two weeks for getting behind in his child support payment to his ex-wife. It was all “because I can’t find a full-time job,” he said.

Last year, according to a written statement from Waldorf, he was in jail for two months for contempt of court, for not paying the $53,000 he owed his ex-wife. And in 2010, he continued, he was incarcerated for 10 days for contempt because he couldn’t pay her the $25,000 she was owed.'

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

If more men did that... well, if they did it's more likely they'd get tear-gassed or something, tazered, then dragged off. But really, I can't help but think if there weren't a few more courthouse protests like these, maybe more outside statehouses too, then maybe things'd change. After all, neither major party seems the least interested in reforming "The System" that keeps it in the kind of cashflow it sees from alimony and child support collections. Voting parties in and out of power every few years seems to have no effect as they seem to be able to agree on only two things: taxes are great and so're alimony/child-support collections. As always, FTM.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2012-10-31 00:10

if there ever was a reason to not get married, this is it.

our forefathers set up our system of laws and our constitution based on their hatred of the evil they had seen in places they lived before (europe mostly). debtors prison had gradually gotten so bad that folks were routinely being executed in some places for a bad debt. one of the first ideals they established here in law in America was that there would be no debtor's prisons, ever.

fast forward to today. the excuse to imprison men for c.s. debt got women wanting more. so now men are also being imprisoned for alimony. i have never met a man who got any alimony, or any woman who paid any. so, it is prety much a crime, punishable by debtor's prison, for men to owe a woman money.

our ancestors gave us the gift of a just system of government. corruption and the desire to have handouts available to certain groups is trying to drag us all into he!! with these judicial misfits. i don't know about you, but i'm better than that.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by daveinga on Thu, 2012-11-01 00:43