‘Dancing With the Stars’: John Schneider Hopes Show Will Help Him Reconcile With Children

John Schneider says he’s hoping Dancing With The Stars will bring him back to speaking terms with his family.

The Dukes of Hazzard star, who made it past the first round of eliminations with pro dance partner Emma Slater during week 1, told host Erin Andrews that he is not on speaking terms with his adult children, Leah, Chasen and Karis.

“I feel good. I’m so excited to be here,” he said going into night two of the season 27 finale, PEOPLE reports.

“I’m hoping that I will do my family proud, I’ll do my love over there proud,” he said, referencing his girlfriend, Alicia, and added, “and maybe my children will speak to me again.”

Schneider’s estranged wife Elvira “Elly” Schneider filed for divorce from Schneider in Los Angeles County in November 2014 after 21 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.

In September 2016, he was ordered to pay Elvira over $18,000 per month — but he was unable to keep up with the payments. Earlier this year, he cited lack of income and other unfortunate circumstances from allowing him to pay his estranged wife’s alimony.

Moreover, he was sentenced in June to three days in the Los Angels County Jail for failure to pay more than $150,000 in owed alimony to Elvira. While he was released the same day as his initial booking due to overcrowding, his legal woes were far from over.

In addition to jail time, he was also ordered to serve 120 hours behind bars for contempt — but that sentence was suspended on the condition that he fulfill a four-part list of conditions, like filing back taxes to help clear the title to his property in Apple Valley so that it could be transferred to Elvira. The suspended sentence also required him to pay Elvira half of his owed earnings from Maven Entertainment and to offer certain financial disclosures before the end of the year.

Schneider, however, said he’d rather restore his jail sentence than comply with the court’s full list of conditions. He wrote in a letter to the judge that he had “regret and embarrassment” about his decision, but that “I am leveraged to the max” with various loans while trying to do “what I believe is ‘right’ throughout this whole process.”

He wrote that it was “unlikely” that he’d be able to comply with all the conditions in order to have the charges dropped and avoid jail, so he asked the court to simply instead lock him up for the entirety of that sentence.

“I am willing and able to accept the punishment for my actions/inactions as to this matter and I request this court to impose such sentence without further delay,” he wrote.

But Elvira’s lawyers filed a motion to strike the letter from the record as an unlawful ex-parte communication until a hearing could be arranged and the attorneys would have the opportunity to cross-examine him about his claimed financial woes.

Whether or not Schneider returns to jail, he’s expected to complete 240 hours of community service as part of his sentencing structure.

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.