“Dear Steve,
Recent child support took my financial cusion away that I had for years an years. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but I accumulated my debt, when I had the funds to keep my payments up to date and when the support kicked in, I no longer had a cusion and yet, I still had the debt. And now my credit is suffering. I had to pay a few late and my score plummeted to barely over 600. I am a single male in my late 30′s.
Is there anything like a government grant that could help me pay off the debt, while possibly bettering myself in the process? IE. education, business. I am an Illinois resident, FYI.
Justin”
The Answer:
Dear Justin,
Let me sum this up for you in lay terms, “you’re screwed.”
There is no grant to bail you out of your debt so you can meet your legal obligation to pay court ordered child support. The government stance is if you can’t pay your bills after you pay your child support, you better go bankrupt.
This is a situation that happens daily.
A good friend of mine is drowning under the burden of child support. To make issues worse, every time he makes more money the court raises his child support and then makes it retroactively effective.
I believe in child support and think that it has many beneficial sides to it, but it is for the kids, and they should come first.
It sucks, I know it, but a trip to a local bankruptcy attorney is probably the best course of action for you. And just to be 100% clear, bankruptcy will not terminate, adjust or eliminate your child support payments. It will clear your other debts so you can make room to pay the child support.
Please update me on your progress by posting updates here in the comments section of your question. I’m very interested in how this works out for you.
P.S. Be sure to read ‘The Secret of Surviving Through Difficult Economic Times. What I Learned On My Journey‘.
If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.