The Ultimate Military Dead Beat Dad Story

A few weeks ago I wrote about the problems faced by men who fall behind in their child support payments when they are called up from their reservist positions to serve in time of war. Writing at LewRockwell.Com, Carey Roberts points out the ultimate example of this sort of problem,

Take Bobby Sherrill, for example. He was working on a contract to the Kuwaiti military in 1990. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August, they took Sherrill hostage. Four months later, he was released. When he came home to Fayetteville, NC, he expected a hero’s welcome. Instead, the child support goons arrested him for failure to pay child support during his captivity.

Frankly this is such an egregious example that I suspected it as some sort of hoax or urban legend, but a Lexis/Nexis search shows that, in fact, Sherrill was arrested the night after he returned to North Carolina for failing to pay $1,425 in child support during the months he was held prisoner by Iraqi forces.

More reason why courts need much more flexibility and the ability to use common sense in applying child support orders in the real world.

Sources:

The Deadbeat Dad’s Dilemma. Carey Roberts, LewRockwell.Com, June 10, 2003.

Child-support-law amendment comes to attention of Hill. Cheryl Wetzstein, Washington Times, April 27, 1999.

Families and the war. Dianna Thompson and Glenn Sacks, EnterStageRight.Com, November 25, 2002.

Leave a Reply