Thus, in CA, an arrearage of $5k is a felony, and will get you straight to prison.
If you google around a bit, you will find the story of an older gentleman who has spent over 10 years in jail for failing to pay a debt. He thought he couldn't go to jail for it, but he's rotting there now. He claims he doesn't have the money (it's several million) and never had it. His X claims he's hiding it. The judge says the x-husband holds the key to the jail cell, and can spring himself anytime by simply paying the debt.
Nice huh?
The husband's lawyer points out that, even if the man had stolen the millions of dollars, he would have been let out of jail by now. But since he wasn't convicted of a crime, he isn't serving any sentence. He is merely being held in jail (for over ten years) on contempt of court, which has no time limit, so he could die there.
I think the guy is around 60, and is somewhere on the east coast, maybe Virginia, or New York, something like that.
Welcome to America.
Good Luck.