Reading Time: 2 minutes
To hear Kroy Biermann or Kim Zolciak tell it, the other is an unfit parent.
This has meant that the court battle has dragged on and on. That’s expensive.
The former The Real Housewives of Atlanta star narrowly avoided jail time over a relatively small court payment.
She has finally made the payment and can avoid spending time behind bars — at least for now.
$2,535 is a lot to owe for most people …
TMZ reports that Zolciak had been instructed by a Georgia judge to turn over $2,535 in outstanding fees.
These were court fees. Specifically, the 4-figure sum was to pay a guardian ad litem appointed as part of her long-running divorce from Kroy Biermann.
(Guardian at litems can fulfill multiple roles, but generally represent minors or others who cannot advocate for themselves during specific legal cases.)
The judge’s order was not a mere suggestion.
If Zolciak did not pay the outstanding sum, she could be jailed.
Now, TMZ reports, Zolciak has paid the entire balance.
According to sources close to her, she made the payment in full on July 14.
Now, things have gone awry in our society when a small (or even large) unpaid debt could rob someone of their freedom, even temporarily.
There must be other measures that the court could take, if someone refused to pay as ordered, before resorting to something as extreme as jail — a punishment that only costs money.
That said, we can acknowledge that for Zolciak, this was not a threat of a debtor’s prison. We are glad that the matter is resolved.
This didn’t need to be so bitter or so ugly
It seems that Zolciak’s issue with the guardian ad litem had to do, at least in part, with dissatisfaction with their priorities.
The guardian was supposed to interview all four minor children as well as both parents.
Zolciak argued that the guardian did not pay sufficient attention to her allegations of abuse or to her concerns about her ex-husband as a parent.
Both parents believe that the other is an unfit parent. Their court battle has extended for years.
However, the guardian’s responsibility is to the minor children — not to assuage the feelings of or advocate for either ex.
The involvement of the guardian ad litem is only one of many points of contention of Zolciak and her ex-husband.
Zolciak’s eldest daughters, Brielle and Ariana, took Biermann’s last name as their own when their parents married.
But Brielle recenly shared that she has not spoken with her father in a long time.
The way that things are, she doesn’t even know if he will be part of her wedding.
What has befallen this family is very sad. Whatever we think of Zolciak or Biermann, their kids are also caught up in this mess.
