Dad in Contempt For Not Paying $69K in Child Support
Tennessee child support enforcement and collection case summary.
Jamie M. Lazaroff (Coons) v. David A. Lazaroff, Sr.
The Arizona order was valid. The father made claims to have asked to have it modified, but the record was devoid of any evidence that this had happened.
The mother and father in this Rutherford County, Tennessee, case were married in 2001. They had two children, born in 2001 and 2002, and they separated in 2002. The mother filed for divorce in Tennessee in 2006, the father defaulted, and the mother was named the primary residential parent with exclusive control of the children. The father was enjoined from any contact with the children pending his application to the court for relief.
The father was located in Arizona, and an Arizona court set his child support at about $600 per month. The father later filed a petition in Kentucky requesting custody, but this was denied.
In 2019, the mother went to court in Tennessee alleging that the father hadn’t paid child support since 2009. The father at that point lived in Tennessee.
The court ruled in the mother’s favor. It found that the father’s support obligation over the years totaled over $86,000, but over $69,000 of that had been unpaid. The father was held in contempt and sentenced to 90 days in jail. The mother also was awarded attorney’s fees of about $6000.
The parties agreed to an order under which the father’s sentence was suspended, based upon an immediate payment of $20,000. He agreed to pay the balance within 90 days, and agreed to a lien on his property. The father, acting as his own attorney, then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The mother moved to dismiss the appeal, based upon the father’s not following the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure in a number of respects.
The appeals court did note that pro se litigants are entitled to a certain amount of leeway, and despite the non-compliance with the rules, it elected to hear the case. The court first held that the Arizona order was valid. The father made claims to have asked to have it modified, but the record was devoid of any evidence that this had happened. The father also pointed to some alleged irregularities by the Arizona child support office in not accepting his payments. But these failures did not affect his obligation to pay the mother.
The appeals court also affirmed the lower court’s award of attorney’s fees. It did, however, deny her request for attorney’s fees on appeal.
For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed, and taxed the costs of appeal against the father.
No. M2022-01004-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 26, 2023).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Child Support Collection & Enforcement in Tennessee.
See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring actual examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.
