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Dad released from prison, reunited with son and freed from child support
By Laura Reichel
A father released from prison reached out for help in reconnecting with his fifteen-year-old son, whom he hadn’t seen in over a decade. When dad tried contacting the child’s mother, hoping to reunite with his son, he was horrified to discover that she wanted to stick him with retroactive child support dating back through his incarceration and send dad back to jail. Faced with the possibility of returning to prison and losing his chance to reconnect with his son, dad called attorney Jeffery Leving for help. The Leving legal stepped in to fight for dad and his son and won.
Chicago matrimonial attorney Jeffery Leving, President of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd. will talk about this important case and more on the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour, 9-10 a.m. CDT Saturday, May 3rd on Power 92.3 FM. This show segment will be available for download on the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour Spotify page on dadsrights.com.
Dad didn’t have this kind of money and could have been locked up again, and this time for non-payment of child support. He was terrified of going back to jail and he didn’t want to lose his chance to reconnect with his son. The U.S. doesn’t have debtors’ prisons, but the system does lock up many dads who owe child support.
“This would have been many tens of thousands of dollars,” said attorney Leving. “Money most people don’t just have lying around—especially someone who just got out of prison.”
The Leving team argued in court that the ex’s demand was both unfair and impractical. They explained the fact that a father’s ability to see his child shouldn’t depend on whether he’s able to pay child support. The judge agreed and ordered that dad’s child support be abated for the time dad was in prison, and he didn’t go back to jail. Dad and his son were finally reunited after years of separation. Dad and his son won.
In this victory, modified for publication, dad was happily reunited with his son and kept from going back to jail. Even though the two were estranged for many years, it’s not too late for them to build a relationship now and into the future.
Matrimonial attorney Jeffery M. Leving is the recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from the President of the United States. In addition, the Illinois House of Representatives has honored Leving “for his work in safeguarding the rights of fathers and protecting the welfare of children and families in this State,” and the Illinois Senate issued a proclamation recognizing his efforts on behalf of fathers.
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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