A Utah mother says she\u2019s struggling to support her children after her ex-husband stopped paying alimony and child support due to severe health issues that prevent him from working. With no income coming in from him for months, she\u2019s now considering whether asking him to cash out part of his retirement savings is the only way to keep her household afloat.<\/p>\n
During a call to \u201cThe Ramsey Show<\/a>,\u201d Kathleen explained that her ex-husband hasn\u2019t paid in five months and currently has no reliable income. \u201cMy ex-husband has not been able to hold down a job due to his health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n According to Kathleen, her former spouse\u2019s financial situation is bleak. She said the only meaningful assets he has left are a 401(k) worth roughly $250,000 and a small amount of equity in the home she kept in their divorce.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it fair to ask him to cash out some of his 401(k) to pay his responsibility?\u201d she asked. \u201cI know there\u2019s huge punishments, but he\u2019s got no other assets to feed his kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Kathleen also mentioned she still holds a life insurance policy<\/a> on her ex-husband from their marriage. The policy is worth about $500,000 and she remains the beneficiary.<\/p>\n Kathleen is going to school for radiology technology in hopes of eventually earning a stable income. But for now, she says she has very limited earning potential. \u201cI\u2019m getting financial support from my family,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going through school. I still got years to go before I can have any training that can pay anything more than fast food.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, her ex-husband is dealing with severe health problems that she believes may permanently prevent him from returning to work.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on his last 10 years of health, I don\u2019t see how it\u2019s possible,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s hitting early dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n The man is currently trying to qualify<\/a> for disability benefits, a process that can take months or even years.<\/p>\n Kathleen told the hosts she doesn\u2019t necessarily want to punish him financially but feels responsible for making sure their children are taken care of.<\/p>\n Trending: Most founders obsess over the wrong hires. See the 5 startup roles that actually determine whether a company scales or stalls.<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Hosts John Delony<\/strong> and George Kamel<\/strong> acknowledged how difficult the situation is but questioned whether tapping the retirement account would actually solve the underlying problem.<\/p>\n \u201cFair is the wrong answer, the wrong question,\u201d Delony told her. \u201cIt\u2019s more like what is necessary to keep the roof over our heads and keep the kids fed,\u201d Kamel interjected.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he cashes it out, then he\u2019s going to be calling them when he\u2019s old and can\u2019t work,\u201d Delony said.<\/p>\n Still, Kathleen said she\u2019s already relying on family members to stay afloat. Her parents are helping with her mortgage, while her sister is helping support her financially.<\/p>\n The hosts suggested that a more practical solution might be negotiating a legal agreement where her ex-husband gives up his share of the home\u2019s equity instead of paying child support, though that wouldn\u2019t provide immediate cash.<\/p>\n Delony also raised a difficult possibility about Kathleen\u2019s current plan to stay in school while relying on family support. In some cases, he said, single parents simply cannot afford to continue their education right away.<\/p>\n \u201cIt may be that you can\u2019t afford to do that right now,\u201d Delony said, \u201cand you have to go work three or four jobs.\u201d He added that many single mothers<\/a> find themselves in painful financial traps where survival in the short term takes priority over long-term career plans.<\/p>\n Image: Shutterstock<\/strong><\/p>\n Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge’s one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights<\/strong><\/a> that can set you ahead in today’s competitive market.<\/p>\n Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga:<\/p>\n This article A Mother Wants Her Ex To Cash Out His 401(k) To Pay Child Support, Despite The Penalties. Says He’s Hitting Early Dementia At 42<\/a> originally appeared on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a9 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Utah mother says she\u2019s struggling to support her children after her ex-husband stopped paying alimony and child…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,30793,18,19,17,28968,19693,234,235],"class_list":{"0":"post-377038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-child-support","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-john-delony","14":"tag-kathleen","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-personalfinance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116202995931782544","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}