Sorry, this is a bit of a cheat post. As a divorce and family law lawyer, I follow quite a few family law blogs around the country. As I posted earlier, one great blog that I follow almost daily is the Family Law Prof Blog. Today, on my Google Reader, I ran into a blog called Chicago Family Law Blog with an interesting post on the top family law stories of 2011.
I want to share the Chicago Family Law Blog with my readers because, from my initial reading, it appears to have good, timely posts on family law topics on a local (Illinois) and national level.
One of the more interesting “top stories” as discussed on the Chicago Family Law Blog was about how Congressmen Joe Walsh appears to not want to pay his child support. As the blog indicates, Congressman Walsh is currently embroiled in a hotly contested child support case with his former wife. It would appear that when Congressman Walsh’s income went down failed to ask for a child support modification. Furthermore, from my review of the post, it appears that he also failed to report a substantial raise in income when his income increased significantly.
I found the post interesting for two reasons (1) it presents a case where a persons income appears to fluctuate greatly and (2) it is about a Congressman who is supposed to be a physical embodiment of the law. At least that is how I look at it.
As a family law lawyer, I have had several clients with fluctuating income. I know that setting child support for these clients was difficult and contentious. I have also had clients who believe they should be getting more in child support and it was usually based on a belief that the other side had greater income than they were reporting. Trust me, finding income sources when the other side is trying to hide that income can be very difficult.
I would guess that the lawyers for Congressman Walsh’s ex-wife are probably having a difficult time finding income sources for him. I don’t know much about how Congressman make their money. Do you? I would guess that there is extensive discovery going on between both sides. There is also probably some heated court hearings on the issue. This kind of family law litigation can get nasty in a hurry. It can also take a long time for the case to resolve.
So, if you’re looking for an interesting read on the subject of child support and Congressman Walsh, I suggest you check out the Chicago Family Law Blog. I did and I wasn’t disappointed. If you are really into learning as much as you can about family law (as I am) you could do a lot worse.
As I stated previously, being a Minnesota divorce lawyer means that I have to be on-my-toes and learn as much as I can about the practice of family law. Granted, most of my education and reading is directed to the jurisdiction I practice in, but I try to stay abreast of family law on a national scale as well. Why? Because it is just so darn interesting.
