In addition to finding himself at the center of criminal investigations regarding his alleged sexually illicit behavior toward women and underage girls, R. Kelly is also dealing with the reality of his reportedly dire financial situation.

Exactly one week after being ordered to jail due to his failure to pay $161,000 in back child support, the singer appeared in court on Wednesday (March 13), where he made an attempt to have his payments reduced.

As reported by CBS Chicago, a Cook County judge refused the request to have his monthly payments lowered despite Kelly’s claim that he can’t afford to make the current amount due to the fact he is “not working” at the moment.

According to a Darrell Johnson, a spokesperson for the singer, R. Kelly’s “friends and family” pooled the owed $161,000, allowing him to be released for jail after a three-day stint behind bars. Johnson also noted how he and attorney Steve Greenberg are representing the embattled singer free of charge, as well as noted that his client simply doesn’t have the assets to sell in order to help mend his financial situation. He also claimed his client paid rent for his condo at Trump Tower in advance, which is why he is able to still reside there without consequence.

Currently, the singer is ordered by the court to pay $21,000 a month to his ex-wife to help care for his children. Given that his youngest son is 17 and his oldest are 20 and 21, his attorneys claim the payments “don’t make sense” and will be continuing the attempted fight to lower the court-ordered payments.

“If you can’t play a show, if you can’t go out on tour, if they’re not streaming your music anymore, obviously you’re going to have financial problems,” Greenberg shared in a statement. “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.”

Despite currently “not working” and being dropped by his record label, Johnson shared that Kelly is still working on new music. “He’s recording every day. He has a studio in his home, so he’s always recording,” he added.

While the singer’s hearing regarding the child support payments was sealed to the public, his attorneys confirmed there was no change and his next court appearance is set for May 8.