Unemployment, alone, is not sufficient to avoid incarceration for the willful failure to pay child support. So held the First Department when on April 8, 2014 it affirmed the determination of Bronx County Family Court Judge Sidney Gribetz in Gina C. v. Augusto C.

Based upon the fact-finding determination of the Support Magistrate, Judge Gribetz had found that the father willfully violated a child support order, and committed him to the New York City Department of Corrections for a term of four months intermittent weekend incarceration, unless discharged by payment of $7,000.00 to the Child Support Collection Unit.

The First Department held that the Support Magistrate properly found that respondent wilfully violated the order of child support. The mother made her prima facie showing that the father’s failure to pay child support over a five year period was a willful violation of the order of support. The father failed to respond with a showing that the violation was not willful by evidence that he was unable to make the required payments. The father and his witnesses gave conflicting testimony as to whether he was working. There was no basis upon which to disturb the Support Magistrate’s credibility determinations.

Further, the appellate court held that unemployment alone does not establish inability to pay, especially given the father’s failure to show that he used his best efforts to obtain employment commensurate with his qualifications and experience. Moreover, prior to each court appearance, the father had appeared with a promise of employment and a minor payment on his outstanding arrears, only to lose the new job and discontinue support between hearing dates.

The father’s last minute attempts to avoid the consequences of his previous failure to pay, including staving off a potential jail sentence, should not be countenanced.