California music fans may be aware that the hip-hop artist Earl Simmons, who is better known as DMX, has had more than his share of legal problems. The 44-year-old rapper has been arrested on charges including drug possession, animal cruelty and reckless driving, and he found himself in front of a judge again on June 27. He was scheduled to appear on stage at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan on June 26, but deputies with the New York City Sheriff’s Department took him into custody as he was getting ready to perform.
Simmons was subsequently brought before a Manhattan Criminal Court judge to answer charges off failure to pay child support in the amount of $400,000. The rapper was released after posting bail in the amount of $25,000, but he was immediately taken into custody again for jumping bail in Westchester County. However, the day was not without good news for Simmons. A robbery charge against him was dropped after the victim was unable to identify Simmons on video surveillance footage of the crime.
The incident does not mark the first time that the rap star has run into problems over child support. Simmons claimed that support payments for his 12 children were ruinous when he filed for bankruptcy in 2013, but his Chapter 11 petition was unsuccessful. Simmons was in court again the following year, and he was ordered to pay $15,000 every month to his ex-wife to support four of his children.
Family law attorneys will likely be familiar with child support cases involving difficult and frustrating collection efforts. Many custodial parents rely on these payments to make ends meet, and an attorney may seek to place liens against the property of noncustodial parents when they fail to make child support payments as ordered.
Source: The NY Daily News, Rapper DMX posts bail after getting nabbed for failing to pay $400,000 in child support, Daniel Lewis and Thomas Tracy, June 27, 2015
