I met Brenda Strong (imdb link) once - she is the narrator voice of Desperate Housewives and had roles in tons of things. One thing she was in was this obscure sci-fi pilot called (I think) Island Earth (nope, it was Island City). I only remembered it because I caught a bit of the start of it one random late-night surf session and noted that it starred Kevin Conroy who was the voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Animated Series. Very silly attempt at a series.
Anyway, so I meet her and her husband - she is looking just elegant in a gown for the event we were both at - and I say “So I have an obscure reference for you - Island City” (I got the name right back then). She was all “you remember Island City?!” and totally wanted to engage.
And I had nothing. I didn’t really know the show - I just watched it to see what the voice of Batman looked like IRL (well, and to check out Brenda because she is hawt ;)). I died as the conversation twisted slowly in the wind.
Or then there was the time I saw this extremely beautiful punky styled blonde at a club for a charity concert I got invited to. She looked at me a couple of times and I was sure checking her out simply because she was attractive…only to realize after she’d left that it was **Aimee Mann **and she must’ve been waiting for me to approach her and acknowledge I recognized her since I was grabbing surreptitious glances…when in fact I was just acting like a married horndog with no game left in my tank…
…then I met Lisa Loeb. Yeah, nothing there either…
IANACanadian, but here in the state of Georgia, the laws are written similarly, in that support is based off an expectation of wages rather than the wages themselves. If a guy makes $50,000 a year at the time of divorce, and then later loses his job, through his own fault or not, it is expected that he will attain employment at a similar rate of pay. The idea behind this is supposed to be to prevent a guy from quiting a lucrative career and taking up as a convenience store clerk in order to pay less support.
The unfortunate reality behind it, and one I have seen hit many a guy, is that they lose their jobs either through goverment downsizing (this is a defense contracting heavy town) or through other lay offs, and then no matter how hard they try, they cannot get another position that comes close to paying what they were making. Often times, this is because they had worked their way in to a position that was overpaid to begin with, through longevity within a company, but now have an expectation of salary attached to them that other companies won’t touch; even if said guy is willing to take a huge pay cut, other companies prefer to hire someone used to making less.
Equally as screwed is that lower wage jobs don’t want them either. I myself have tried numerous times to get night work in retail stores like Walmart and such, but never get a call back even when they are advertising as hiring. I finally approached a manager and asked why, and was told straight out that they won’t hire someone with my qualifications because it has been their experience that people with a high degree of experience and education quit too soon after being trained, because they don’t like the lower wages.
Getting the court even consider lowering the support amounts is damned near impossible. I’ve seen many a guy fight it, and every one of them lost. I have one friend who went from being a mid-level manager at a defense contractor to working part time at a book store, living in a crack neighborhood for free (the building is being renovated and they need someone living there to keep the crack heads from stealing the pipes and wiring), and has nothing left in his name beyond third-hand furniture and clothes…and the state still won’t lower his support.
There was a short-lived improv show called “Thank God You’re Here!” for which he was a judge. I thought he was a bit too supportive, telling everyone how much he enjoyed what they did. I kept hoping for him to tell someone (and many of them deserved it) all the funny choices they didn’t make.
But I doubt it was entirely his fault. I’m sure there was a production decision there.
I meet famous people from time to time, and I’ve never said something so perfect. Bravo!
Actually, there is more to the story. Foley habitually leaves out the part that when he petitioned the court to reduce his child support obligation, the court asked for him to produce proof of his current income and texts of his employment contracts, and, without explanation, he refused to do so. Now why he would refuse to do that is something that’s not clear.
I’ll see if I can find the newspaper article that I read on this matter.
Well, you can tell him you loved Dave Foley in Earth to the Moon (in which he had a brief rear nude scene as I recall).
Looking up some articles on Foley’s situation, he seems to freely admit he pissed away a lot of his money when he was making megabucks. The amount of support isn’t even that unreasonable: $10,700 per month- for a name actor you wouldn’t think it would be that hard to make enough to send that.
Of course he’d probably have to make at least $500,000 per year to pay it and to support himself/pay his agent & dues/pay his taxes, but even so there are actors no better known than Foley who make that in a few episodes of a sitcom.
I think it’s reasonable to assume he is making as much money as he can right now. I doubt he is doing the comedy club circuit and turning down sticoms that pay much more just to avoid paying his ex.
I’ve also heard co-workers say they’d do this. They say they would quit their job if they had to pay their wife a percentage of their salary. Usually with a “That would show the bitch” added.
I know a few who did so before the law changed as well. I have no idea how epidemic it was, but it was enough to have the law changed around 4-5 years ago.
Well, my brother got a divorce agreement then had his income plummet, here, in Ontario, and was able to appeal to the family court to have his payments reduced. It wasn’t even especially difficult all he had to do was appeal and file paperwork to demonstrate said plummet. So I know it’s entirely possible. Why Dave Foley can’t do it, I can’t imagine.
The Divorce Act specifically allows for a change in support orders, including retroactive changes, due to a material change in circumstances.
So why hasn’t he been successful in his applications? without reading the decisions, it’s hard to say, but Acsenray points to a significant factor: to get a variation for a material change in circumstances, such as a substantial drop in income, you have to, oh I don’t know, maybe file proof about the substantial drop in income with the other party and the court. If he’s not done so, as the lawyer for his ex-wife suggests, that’s a likely explanation.
