Behind almost $100,000 in child support payments, a Wisconsin father of nine was ordered to stop reproducing until he gets his debt in order.
Corey Curtis, 44-years-old from Racine, Wisconsin has nine children with six different women and has been unable to keep up with payments. Though Judge Tim Boyle said he didn't have the authority to have Curtis sterilized, Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Sommers did say he had some kind of authority regarding the matter. She said that a 2001 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling upheld a judge's power to order a defendant to not have any more children until he could prove that he could financially support them. That case involved David Oakley, a man from Manitowoc County, who was charged with seven counts of failing to support his nine children.
After learning of that precedent, Boyle sentenced Curtis to three years' probation and made not having children a condition of the probation. "Common sense dictates you shouldn't have kids you can't afford," said Judge Boyle.
Curtis has been arrested and charged with failure to pay child support on several occasions over the last eleven years. Court records also show he has convictions for passing bad checks, criminal damage, and burglary. He has, however, said that he will comply with the judge's ruling. "Judges, they make rulings," he said. "They make them kind of hastily. So, if that's what he feels one of my conditions should be then I'm going to abide by it."
Child support issues can be just as complicated in California as in the Midwest. The Law Offices of Paul H. Nathan is a San Francisco child support law firm prepared to help untangle your case. Give us a call today at 415-341-1144 to schedule a consultation about the legal options available to you.