Deadbeat dad owes his ex-wife $85K in child support, pressures her to stop payments because their 4 kids are 23-31 years old: 'I never received child support while they were young, ever.'

Emmy Pratt • I sell houses that don't exist to men who were never born

May 29, 2026 12:30 PM EDT

He needs to give her every cent she is owed for raising all four of his children on her own.

It's so wild when a grown adult never expects their lifelong habits to bite them in the rear end. If you ate horribly and never exercised for your entire adult life, you shouldn't be surprised when you have health issues as you age. If you spent all your money and didn't save anything for retirement, you can't be shocked that you can't afford to travel the world the second you turn 65. What goes around comes around, especially when the courts are involved.

A cocky person who has never faced any consequences for their poor decisions might think they're above man-made systems and processes, such as the court system. A deadbeat parent might expect that if they've evaded paying child support for their kid's entire childhood, they won't have to pay it once they turn 18. Much like taxes and credit card bills, child support payments don't just evaporate when their due date passes. They stick around for years and years, until eventually the child support overpays them voluntarily, or their wages are garnished. If you've ever worked with someone who asks to be paid under the table, chances are they are trying to avoid paying child support at all costs.

If someone has managed to get away with not paying for child support for the whole period of time their kids are under 18, they obviously have found some sort of way of evading it. Some deadbeat parents put pressure on their exes not to pursue child support, calling them lazy and money-hungry. That's what the dad in this story is doing to the woman who raised his children for him, and she's close to cracking under the pressure.

via sarah b

_{A representation of a deadbeat dad, who is trying to guilt his ex-wife out of making him pay his child support payments after his kids have grown up.}
Am I the bad guy for receiving child support while my children are grown?

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_{Three models who could be the daughter of the original poster and her two daughters, who are mourning the tragic loss of their father at a young age.}
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_{A picture of the daughter's late husband, the family's breadwinner.}
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