Judge Jerry Baxter, a Fulton County Superior Court judge, granted class-action status to a lawsuit against the state by five parents that had been jailed for child-support debt, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
All around Georgia, there are thousands of poor parents facing jail-time for failure to pay child support. Getting approval for a class-action means that any and all of these poor parents may be able to join the lawsuit that is demanding that if they can’t afford it, a lawyer should be appointed to represent poor parents.
One of the aims of what might be termed the 'Georgia deadbeat class-action suit' is to end the imbalance between rich and poor parents in a child support proceeding. Georgia is one of the few states that doesn't provide lawyers for poor parents facing civil contempt in child-support proceedings, reports the AJC. Those filing the class action have tried to show that Georgia has created a modern day debtor prison by incarcerating individuals that simply can't pay.
Since the start of last year 3,500 poor parents have been jailed.
Conversations about child support modification in Georgia become moot where people can't afford attorneys or even the filing fees associated with the family law petitions. Given the fact that failure to pay child support can result, not only in jail time, but also in revoking of driving and other licenses, it makes sense that the indigent parents are demanding assistance from the state.
Georgia's position, as is the case in many of these battles, is that it simply does not have the money to pay for assisting people in family law proceedings, particularly as it barely has money to provide attorneys to individuals in criminal law proceedings.
So it might be ironic that the Georgia deadbeat class action for poverty stricken parents might be defended by the government itself arguing poverty.
Related Resources:
- Find an Atlanta Family Law attorney (FindLaw)
- Judge Allows Thousands to Join Class Action (Associated Press)
- Deadbeat Parents Need Free Lawyers: Child Support Suit (FindLaw's Law & Daily Life)
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