A woman who is desperate to receive a get despite alienating her children from their father previously used the judicial system to impose a high amount of child support on her estranged husband, and then got him incarcerated on the claims that he had failed to pay the required child support.
The woman has again tried this tactic. However, this time, after the husband retained new counsel, the Appellate Division put a halt on her attempts to incarcerate him.
The parties were married in 1990. They have 10 children, of which 4 are unemancipated, with the youngest having been born in 2011.
The parties separated in 2015 after the wife got a temporary restraining order against the husband, resulting in him being forced to vacate the marital home.
In 2019, the wife filed legal action in New York Supreme Court seeking $7,851 per month for child support. At a hearing held on January 6, 2021, the husband argued that he did not earn anywhere near that sum, and the wife argued that he was purposely working at a low paying job just so he could get away from needing to pay child support.
Ultimately, Judge Theresa M. Ciccotto granted the wife's request, retroactive to the date the motion was filed, making the husband liable for $109,915 for 14 months of arrears due, plus $5,000 for his wife's attorney fees.
Subsequently, on May 6, 2021, the wife filed an Order To Show Cause, seeking to hold the husband in contempt of court for failing to pay as ordered.
At the court hearing on May 26, 2021, the husband's attorney made a verbal motion to withdraw as counsel. The attorney did not submit any opposition to the Order To Show Cause, nor did he request an adjournment. As a result, the judge signed an Order holding the husband in contempt.
As a result of this Order, on December 2, 2021, over Chanukah, the husband was thrown in Rikers Island jail. The 53 year old Chassidish man with no criminal record at all was thrown in a cell together with hard criminals.
Importantly, when the husband was arrested, prominent Rabbonim - Harav Yechiel Yaakov Miller; the Debritzenir Rov; Harav Yitzchok Stein; Harav Yosef Menachem Deutsch; the Skver Dayan; and the Skver Rebbe - issued a proclamation against the woman's actions, specifically warning that if she uses this incarceration as a means to coerce him to give a get, the get will be considered a forced get and invalid.
After sitting in jail for 15 days, on December 16, 2021, the husband retained a new attorney who immediately got him released. Additionally, he filed an Order To Show Cause to vacate the Contempt Order on the basis that it was granted without the husband being afforded the opportunity to timely submit opposition papers (being that his first attorney walked off the case).
In response, on January 12, 2022, the court vacated the Contempt Order, and permitted the husband to file opposition to the Order To Show Cause.
The husband then submitted opposition, arguing that he did not willfully disobey the court order, rather he was simply unable to pay child support as ordered.
At the same time, the husband timely paid monthly child support as much as he could afford.
Despite the Rabbonim's strong warning against such actions, at a hearing held on January 20, 2023, the wife again asked Judge Ciccotto to throw her ex-husband in jail for not paying the remainder of the child support owed.
The husband's new attorney showed his tax statements indicating how much he was actually earning and emphasized that the husband was paying as much as he could afford.
Judge Ciccotto ruled that based on this now shown information, going forward, the husband's monthly child support will now go down to $500 per month, however, as the husband did not timely appeal the January 6, 2021 Order, all child support owed up until the filing of the instant motion on February 4, 2022 would still be owed.
This left the husband in arrears of $204,126 for the 26 months that elapsed between November 27, 2019 and the filing of the instant motion on February 4, 2022.
Judge Ciccotto also awarded the wife $5,000 for her attorney fees.
The judge did not order that the husband immediately be thrown in jail for contempt of the earlier Order. Instead, the judge scheduled an evidentiary hearing to be held at on March 29, 2023 to determine whether or not he "has complied with this Order." The judge further ordered that the husband could purge the contempt by paying $100,000 prior to the hearing.
On March 27, 2023, just prior to the scheduled court hearing, at which the husband was at imminent risk of being incarcerated, the husband filed an emergency appeal to the Appellate Division.
Essentially, the husband's argument was that he never willingly disobeyed the court, rather, he simply could not afford the amount originally set by the court. Additionally, he noted that the same way the lower court agreed that based on his actual earnings, going forward, his monthly child support would be modified, likewise, for the same reasoning, going backwards, his arrears should be stricken as well.
On March 28, 2023 Appellate Division Associate Justice Cheryl E. Chambers granted an immediate Temporary Stay of the January 20, 2023 Order, keeping the husband out of immediate incarceration.
At a subsequent hearing held on July 18, 2023, by a panel of 4 judges, the Appellate Division further extended this Stay.
Turns out that her continued efforts to use incarceration to obtain a get while alienating her children from their father were for nought.
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2 comments:
The woman is being controlled by a vindicative brother. She also threw the husband out of his home that was purchased by his father, but put under her brother's name for benefits purposes. I hope all attempts of hers fail. She's such a disgusting person, that no one would marry her anyway so she has nothing to lose.
Dear FAA,
You perform an extremely important function by informing citizens about what is going on in the politics of Lakewood and the neighboring towns.
please don't muddy the waters with shalom bayis/divorce issues that don't belong here.
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