States begin to boost child support payments (need more funding)
January 5, 2009
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Posted by ANCPR
[Note: This is a start and escalation of states assaulting the poorest of the poor, which will ultimately create many non-custodial parents to be jailed.........thus increasing incarceration grants for states along with revenue from child support collections for states to generate income because of losses that they are having due to the down-turned economy. States are beginning to make adjustments in their operations folks during this slow economy to make up for losses and they are implementing a full force attack towards and on us citizens. This is the beginning of the end I fear and things will get very bad and worse than they have been concerning the WAR ON FAMILYS........they have to maintain their profiteering and federal incentive monies somehow!, this is just one way. Notice below highlighted in red....I fear we will begin to see all states start inplementing changes such as these to maintain their crooked federally funded incentive programs, which are in danger of showing losses due to the bad economy. There is only one way for these crooks to maintain revenue and that is to further drain the people of the United States........us folks!]
Commission: Boost child support payments from low-income parents
By Mary Garrigan, Journal staff
Child support obligations for non-custodial parents will start at $216 per month for even the lowest-income South Dakotans if new guidelines proposed by the Governor’s Commission on Child Support are adopted by the 2009 Legislature.
Every four years, after public hearings held throughout the state, child support guidelines and statutes are reviewed by the commission, which issues a report and recommendations to the governor and the Legislature. The laws are used to set child support amounts among divorced, separated and never-married parents and parents in situations that otherwise involve a continued absence of the parent or child from the home, such as incarceration.
This year’s report included 10 recommendations, any or all of which would become state law if approved by the 2009 Legislature.
The recommendations include:
- Increases in the monthly support obligation schedule to better reflect current costs of raising children in South Dakota. Where combined parental incomes are $0 to $1,100, non-custodial parents will owe $216 per month for one child. Under the current schedule, which has been in effect since 2000, non-custodial parents on the bottom rung of the schedule could owe a minimum of $100 per month for one child. Low-income adjustments reflect recent increases in the federal minimum wage, which rises to $7.25 per hour in 2009.
- Expanding the support schedules to include combined parental incomes as high as $20,000 per month, a change from the current $10,000 per month ceiling on the schedule. Previous law left high-income support obligations up to a judge’s discretion, which was not equitable in all cases, according to family law attorney and commission member Linda Lea Viken. “That’s where we get into a lot of our arguments,” Viken said. “This change is an important benefit to children.”
- Changes that would allow a parent to exclude new income that is not regular or recurring, such as bonuses or overtime pay, when calculating their support obligation.
- Amending state law to reflect the assumption that even incarcerated parents are capable of paying child support as if they earned minimum wage.
The commission includes custodial and non-custodial parents, family law attorneys, and representatives of the judiciary, the Legislature, and the Department of Social Services.
Diana Broom of Rapid City, a custodial parent who sits on the commission, said the new proposals will help both custodial and non-custodial parents alike.
Custodial parents have not had an increase in child support guidelines for eight years. Changes in how new, secondary income sources are handled should please non-custodial parents, Broom said.
The final report can be viewed at dss.sd.gov/childsupport/docs/report.pdf.
Article Link: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/01/05/news/local/doc495fd671065e3721565430.prt
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If Fathers that are non-custodial parents are jailed for not being able to pay outrageous child support, how can it be said that they can pay from jail as though they were making minimum wage? My husband pays a ridiculous amount of support on two children every week. He pays $323.00 plus an additional $100.00 for health insurance and any insurance co-pay the ex sends him, he pays 1/2 of that also. An average of $453.00 per week. His bring home is only $660.00. We can’t live like this and there is no help in sight. We hired a lawyer who’s done nothing for $3000.00 (his mother paid the lawyer!) And now that my husband’s job is in jeopardy and they are down to 4 day work weeks, no overtime, the judge ordered him to pay 1/2 of his wages after deducting only taxes, no credit for any of the other deductions like $100.00 insurance a week. Example: He brought home $170.00 this week and she is entitled to $135.00 of this amount. 1) How can a judge demand you pay 1/2 of your wages when state law says 32% for 2 children? 2) How can a man pay this and manage to keep a roof over the children’s heads when he has his visitation? 3) How can a man manage state required vehicle insurance, car payment or gas to go retrieve his children? 4) How can he feed them if he does manage 1 through 3? Someone please throw me some info that will help. My husband and I are almost destitute at this very moment and no one in Tennessee cares, especially his lawyer Brenda Bramlett and Judge J.B. Cox.
Try paying via garnishment — Federal law prohibits more than a certain percentage of income from being garnished. Note that this does NOT alter the order of the Tennessee court, but might give you grounds to seek modification (with a decent lawyer and the help of your legislators).
Here’s a nice reference I found on the web concerning the Federal law:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs30.pdf
Great article.
This has been going on for a long time now. State budgets are strained to the max by an ever increasing number of jobs being lost to overseas markets and the bad economy. Compounding the problem is the unwillingness to reduce the number of government jobs to adjust for reduced tax revenues. As a result of their refusal to reduce the size of government, comes the rationalization that the money has to come from somewhere, so they find ways to squeeze more and more out of the citizenry.
The first ones they go after are the most vulnerable and that’s the infamous “deadbeat dad” or the parent who struggles to pay the court ordered so-called “child support”. (Like Lisa1966 above) The matching federal dollars paid by the feds for the collection of child support can be spent on anything the state wants to spend it on.
They will also set up speed traps, DUI sting operations, increased traffic stops (profiling is used to decide who gets stopped) camera ticketing operations, unreasonable bail for minor offenses etc. etc. The states also get matching federal dollars for every county and state prisoner they hold in their incarceration facilities. That has led to a boom in the prison building industry over the last forty years. It’s not that crime is on the increase; it’s that the state makes money locking people up.
As more and more companies move off shore, and as the economy gets worse, look for this problem to get much, much worse.
Folks, as you very easily see from my previous post, I am not just upset, I am truly distraught because our financial situation is so very desperate and because of the inability of the courts and their officers in our State to give us any real help! We desperately need new laws. We have been to court several times – not to try to get out of paying child support, but to try to just simply, 1.) to get funds returned to my husband that were taken illegally by his ex’s attorney and are, by Court judgment, owed to him, and 2.) to get a decent, honorable, and fair amount set for support payments. As stated previously, under our current Tennessee laws he pays over 50% every week for support for his two girls, plus pays another $100 medical insurance he can give his girls good medical and dental coverage, plus he pays his half of all their medical/dental co-pay bills. So with all this he&nb sp;averages over 3/4 of his weekly check paid for them. He loves his girls with his whole being… and, he would love to give them the moon and the stars and days full of rainbows if he could. Just like a lot of dads would do for their girls if they could! You know what else goes with this life of his? He works on his feet, — all night. (The nights he gets to work now, with our economy. ) He needs to be able to buy himself a pair of work shoes when his are worn down to holes and hurt to wear. Good, safe work shoes cost some serious bucks. Which he doesn’t have, and can’t look forward to having.
We have turned to our attorney and our same judge for help for just these two things again, and again, and again. They fail us. Again and again and again. I railed out at them because this hurts. Deeply. Again, and again and again. I do owe them both an apology for naming names and for making it sound like this failure is all their fault. That’s not so. They are both well-meaning people who try to do their jobs. Our judge is a good, well-thought-of, and very respected man who tries to be fair. Our attorney has been our attorney for some time now. She is well-respected here, also. We wouldn’t have gone to her otherwise! Plus, She loves dogs. You know anyone who loves dogs can’t be a bad person. She has gone up to bat for us several times, and, we most definitely appreciate her doing so. The bottom line, The real problem is that, as much as they both might like to he lp us, the laws of our State are way out of date in simple fairness and in equality rights for dads. One very apt example is — the current laws that say we must try to survive on $25-$35.00 a week. How fair and equitable and honorable and humane is that y’all?
The current laws we have do not look at a real man like my husband — who loves and adores his girls, and his family, who works his heart out to just try to survive, who never asks for anything fancy for himself, who, maybe, takes two days of vacation in a whole year, who always does without for himself for things he needs like winter gloves and decent work shoes or a new work coat to try to pay these huge payments required by our State law. He tries his level best to live an honorable life. In return, our State dishonors him and disrespects him and wipes their feet on him and starves him – for trying with all his heart to be what a real man is supposed to be.
Liberty and “justice for all”? Our Tennessee lawmakers show they don’t believe in or honor that. Not for fathers they don’t.
The judges, attorneys, social workers and government bureaucrats, who make their living exploiting children and their parents, are not well intentioned. This is happening to *millions* of people all across America and is not confined to any geographic region.
This is systematic discrimination on a national scale financed by the federal government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC9XfcJFeOM
I agree with Merck. It is happening all over America ,but as far as “our little town” goes, I know of no other person being treated like my husband. I know of no other man or woman paying the amount of support my husband pays either. Believe you me, he and I both have polled people on this subject. We are in the process of composing a letter to our state legislature on the unfair support matters at hand in Tennessee. The judge in our town told my husband that he would not be eligible for the new laws Tennessee has as far as the 49/51 parenting because his divorce was actually before the parenting plan was in effect?! Okay, so??!! Therefore his income will never verse her income or his time spent with them will never verse her time spent with them and she will never be liable for any monies concerning their childrens health and/or welfare as long as he’s paying her 75% of his wages (everything included). However, two attorneys he has hired since his divorce (1999) said as soon as he had a 15% increase or decrease in his income he would be eligible. Well, apparently not since we are destitute and now he has to pay 50% plus….!!!Who do you believe? Who can you trust? Who out there can actually inform you correctly? I don’t think there is anyone. I think it depends on who you are and whether or not your ex mother-in-law is a county commissioner in the town you live in. Yes, my husbands ex mother-in-law is a county commissioner and it is noted in the court room at almost every court date we have. Go figure!! I am open to any suggestions. I welcome any helpful info anyone may have. It’s a sad world we live in when you can’t even enjoy your own children on your visitation because you don’t know whether or not the next visit you’ll be able to feed them, keep them warm and/or have a roof over your head to do it in. And one more thing, at the last court hearing the judge told my husband that support amounts in his case are suject to a 2 year average. In other words, you make say, $75,000.00 this year and $25,000.00 the next thanks to the economy. Your support amount will be based on $50,000.00 which in our case will be $13,760.00 paid to the ex. How can anyone pay that amount making only $25,000.00 a year??
Well folks thanks to our Tenessee Child Support judgement that was just handed down to my husband on December 19, 2008 by Judge J.B. Cox, we are basically destitute. My husbands hours have been drastically cut as you know from my previous comments but what you may not realize is that my husband has only gotten paid for 2 days for the last two weeks due to economics bringing home $179.00 one week and $189.00 the last. Therefore after taxes, social security and medicare his ex was entitled to $135.00 the first week and $155.00 the second. So can someone out there explain to me how a man can manage his own household on $44.00 one week and $34.00 the next??? And since his support is still not being reduced he’s still responsible for $305.00 a week regardless of what he brings home. Of course all that difference will have to be made up in arrears says the judge!! Tennessee law needs to change. And can someone please tell me how a judge can rule a man to pay more than he makes a week for support??? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get these laws looked into, changed, etc..? All help is appreciated.
Lesa1966
There’s a “discussion forum” on this website you may not be aware of. From the home page click on “latest headlines” then scroll down and click on “Discussion Forum Topics”. You stand a better chance of connecting with people there.
You may also want to check out the following link. Ask one of the “self help legal” people for help. I can’t promise you this will change your circumstances, but it may help get you pointed in the right direction.
Sorry to hear that you’re having a rough time and you’re not alone. Hang in there.
http://unitedcivilrights.org/UCRCoA_Board.html
Thank you so much Merck. I wasn’t aware of the discussion forum.
To lesa1966,
Can you imagine what life might be like if your husband were to lose his job?
What greedy politicos are going to soon find is this recession producing millions of deadbeat dads. And puting them in jail or send them off to a homeless shelter will accomplish what?
If you really want to change your situation, you must be willing to go outside the (legal) box. And as Merk already pointed out, the legal system is a scam, and could care less about your plight as the lead story also pointed out. How do you demand someone who earns nothing pay $216 month?
But working outside the legal box should only be used as a last resort.
It may get to the point that the only thing to do is civil disobedience and just not pay. Force them to put all of us in jail. Just say no to unfair support payments. Frack the criminal federal guberment and it war on fathers. Give us our children or imprisonment us. Who do these social fascists think they are anyway. Down with tyranny of all kinds.
The best way to fight this government attempt to enslave the population is to *legally* refuse to pay income tax. See the videos “Freedom to Fascism” and Larken Rose’s “Theft by deception” available on Google Video to understand the issue better.
Also see the youtube videos from Sherry Peel Jackson and Joe Banister (former IRS agents) who refuse to pay the unlawful tax.
If anyone wants to know how to go about not paying your taxes, just start a discussion topic on the issue, in the discussion forum on this website, and I’d be happy to go into more detail.
The prisons are already overcrowded. Can you imagine how many true criminals will be released so that they can make room for the pooor NCP that can’t afford to pay his/her child support??? I was in court the other day and watched as they almost threw a guy in jail for $200 arrearage. The next guy owed $11,000 and he waltzed right out. You can’t tell me this isn’t still up to judicial discretion. Bull sh*t!!!
Guidelines schmidelines!
The whole issue is exhausting and disgusting. What about the kids, huh? What about THEM??? The COURTS make it about the parents…stop blaming the parents for being selfish for wanting to see their kids and wanting to be able to buy them a freakin’ cheesburger at Micky D’s once in a while!!! STOP IT lawyers STOPT IT family court, just STOP I
TTTTTT!!!!!
If you are a woman in Judge JB Cox court and have to pay child support he tries not to set it and certainly doesn’t hold the woman to pay up like he does the man and there seem to be 2 very different laws for a man and a woman in his court. I have seen how he does on both ends and it is truely a mochary of our great judicial system.
I am utterly disgusted in government and how selfish and self-centered it is. Our founding fathers would be ill if they knew what this country has become. Multiple systems are broke and turning us into “slaves” to American government officials. Laws are written to entrap us under a guise such as “ensuring basic needs of children are met”, “health care”, “Immigration laws”, the list goes on!
I currently pay $2200.00 per month and with insurance added and paying for half of all the kids medical bills (two kids) it’s on average over $3,000 per month. While my ex-wife works one day a week at the bar, drives around in a new tahoe, buys her boyfriend new doors and updates to his house, has coach purses, Gucci watches. If I want to fight the system it will cost me at least $10,000 in lawyer fees which I can’t afford because of all the child support I pay I can barely live for a 50/50 chance changing something. I’m utterly embarrassed to be an American right now and how the social system is structured to make slaves of the working class males. This is an outrage.
The big question is… WHAT CAN WE DO?!?! If we write to a congressman who is it? How can we write to them?
I say we have ONE BIG VOICE and take off a week of work and rally our city halls with pickets and start screaming for change! Let’s make it Every First Monday of the month of every month until change happens! We all take pickets and rally! Inform the news, the media, start spreading the word. These insane self centered laws have got to stop. We can’t do it separately but with one voice we will instill change. Thoughts?
Get rid of these mothers who produce kids for business and get rid of the laws that support it!
Oh, by the way, I’ve paid over $400,000.00 in child support so far for two kids that are fifteen and sixteen now. My wife has managed to spend all that money and thus my kids have nothing to go to collage with. I’m so happy the laws enabled my ex wife to exploit the system or actually encouraged by the system to exploit them. I wish the federal govt would just cut off the state govt cause the reason why states collect money now is only so they can make more. It’s incredible this has gone on this long….
America, home of the working class slave…
Solution: Let’s rally first monday of every month with pickets in front of every city hall across america until our voice is heard…
We need to make a stand now!
hi there , i just found this website and it seems that im not the only one concerned with how my husband has been treated with child support. my husbands ex is causing us financial troubles. she keeps wanting more money from us. we own a small buisiness in morristown tennessee and its not doing well at this time. but yet his ex doesnt care . and the sad thing is his ex owns 3 houses , 3 cars , and the kids both have huge go carts , mopads, and lots of other stuff while our son doesnt have anything like that because we cant give him those things because of what we pay her. his ex makes 35hourly at her job. she is getting ready to go to cancun. and she just hired 2 attorneys to fight my husband . one is for more child support and one is for visitation. the sad thing is my husband does not get to see his kids at all because she wont let him . and we had to borrow money to hire attorneys to fight back. we couldnt afford to get a attorney on our own because its taking everything we have to pay the child support. we are about to loose everything that we have worked so hard for . but the state of tennessee doesnt care. they dont care if you have other kids to support. the last time my husband went to court over child support they treated him like he was a murderer. they wanted to know how many cars we had , how many bathrooms we had in our house, how many square foot our house is . and so on . the whole time my husband was telling them that his ex has 3cars and 3 houses and goes on expensive vacations but it didnt matter what she had they said. we need to make a stand in tennessee for fathers that are treated like this . fathers that pay their child support but their exes want more out of spite but dont let dads see their kids. . fathers in tennessee are struggling just to live while their exes are living the high life. tennessee is terrible about not giving a damn about the dads rights. and could care less if they and there new families live in a card board box. if anyone knows how we can get petitions to congress or how we can make a stand for the fathers of tennessee before its to late for them. if we dont the fathers of tennessee that do pay their child child support and love their kids will loose everything they have . if we can get enough people to stand up for their rights maybe we can get them treated fairly in tennessee. we must take action now. if anyone will help please let me know asap so we can talk to get this taken care of . i will be willing to talk on the phone . and to get petitions started in my area if i can get other people to help in their area. maybe we can get lots of signatures. please email me if interested. my email is : trask2962@bellsouth.net . please make it attention : chastity at fathers rights. please send this to anyone that you think may help . its about time something is done . maybe we can get fathers of tennessee equal rights. if you have any info on anything also please let me know. again i hope you forwarded this to everyone you know. so that we can get things going in the right direction . if anyone would like to contact me by phone to talk about their situation i would be happy to talk to you because i no how it is ive been going thru it for 10 years. please email me if you do and i will get you my number. .thanks, and god bless.
How about a petition to congress along these lines…The Federal Government should cease paying matching funds to State Governments for child support payments. This practice has led to states and courts using this as a source of revenue, thus putting priority on dollars instead of the childs’ best interest. This practice, and the states dependence on this revenue, is prohibiting state lawmakers from reviewing and making beneficial changes to archaic and grossly unfair family court laws.
A federal guideline is also needed to change the pattern of custody awards by the courts. Do our “leaders” have any idea how much money would be saved if they would stop assuming that the mother is always the best parent. How about changing laws to say that, if one parent cannot support the child without assistance from the government, or the other parent, and the other parent can, that parent will be given custody unless it can be proven that it is not in the child’s best interest.
When child support is ordered and paid, the state should require that the payee show proof to the payer that a certain percentage of that money is being spent directly on that child/children. I don’t mind some of the money going for everyday needs like food, clothing, and shelter, but my son shouldn’t be walking around in clothes with holes in them and hair that’s all gapped up because mom cut it at home herself. In the meantime, she’s going to the tanning salon and getting manicures. That’s not child support, it’s mom support.
I’ve been on both sides, we’ve WILLING paid Child Support for 7 1/2 years and now are waiting to GET Child Support from the Non-Custodial mother who has ZERO legal rights to her child. We put in paperwork 4 days after we ‘won’ in court (in TN no less) and we live in a different state- so it has taken 3 MONTHS to get to the state so they can issue her the order to collect money off her TN TEACHERS (she teaches Middle School in Knoxville) Salary.
So, I’m ready to start collecting some of the good old TN money you all speak of- the ex kept the child away from us while my Husband did 2 Tours in Iraq, kept him away for Thanksgivings, Christmas, Summers, we bought 2 cell phones to speak to him, and even told him that we didn’t love him and didn’t want to see him anymore. I say NO AMOUNT of money can fix the harm she has done and she should pay for 100% of his therapy. Oh yeah- the 7 year old was in diapers when we finally got him and she put him in a school for the mentally retarded (his IQ is 114) but told the school that my husband was DEAD!
There are 2 sides to every story. We sent her check every month without fail VIA US POST certified mail. Spent over $30,000 in legal fees, and haven’t seen one red cent out of her.
Well, where do I start. There seems to be a problem of understanding what is happening in your case. Probably the first place you should start is look up on the web, Tennessee Code Annotated. Find the statutes that are applicable to child support and divorce. Also check Tennessee Deaprtment of Human Services web site. There is a document,Chapter 1240-2-4, Rules of Tenn. Dept. of Human Services, Child support guidelines. These documents are written in legal-ease, but if you take your time and sift through the information, you can usually find some information that can help you. In your case it sounds as if you need to file with the court a motion for “Change of Circumstances.” Once this is done and a change of circumstances is proved, guess what, a new parenting plan will have to be produced or at the least the old one modified. A change of circinstance can be as little as a parent interefereing with visitation, or decrease of income. If you research a little on the web there is court forms available for this and many other pleadings if you want to try it yourself. Your attorney should have known to do this. It sounds as if the judge is trying to put your hubby into the catagory of being purposefully underemployed. In that case the judge can impute a income based on averages and what he should be making. The change of circumstances can be easily documented with either w2′s or 1040 tax return showing decrease of income. I do not know your attorney or what part of the state you are in, but I located a attorney by checking the web, and reading appeals that had been filed and won. There is a couple of things I am not so happy with her about, but then again there are some things she has done excellent on. Another thing, do not pay an attorney a lot of money up front. Pay them as they produce. When they have their money already, they are not to motivated as a general rule. I hope this information is of help, and good luck.
im willing to go to jail over child support.i cant afford 420 dollars a month . i cant afford to live on my own,or pay my bills. thhe custodial parent parties every week end and collects unemployment for the last year and a half. im either homeless or live with people for a while. child support takes 60% of my paycheck and i make7.50 an hour full time. i have a son in my custody but couldnt afford to take care of him so now he stays with his father.cant use legal aide because the custodal father uses them. why shouldnt the custodial father be made to work. it took 2 of us to make these children. i give up! just want to go to jail to get rid of the stress ive been under.
Dear C.W. …Welcome to our pain….You are a rare one, 98.7% of all child support payments are made by men. Women are generally the receipiants.. There is a part of me that wants to say ” How’s it feel ” because your a women. KARMA is A BITCH. Then on the other hand well my heart goes out to you.If you wish to join our battle against the SO-Called Goverment well we can use you. Yes the majority of us will go to jail for our fight , but we need to save the generations after us. You mentioned you had a son… Well he is a victim before he even reaches adulthood. Since he is a man in the eyes of the court he is GUILTY…. Next. So join the fight for his sake and yours. We look foward to have you join us.
Wow, Darius, way to keep it classy. Not all custodial moms are the witches you and others have made them out to be. My children’s dad was always allowed to our children and they would also spend the weekend with him – UNTIL – I found out he was doing drugs in front of them. That’s where I drew the line.
Because of heartless people like Darius, that’s all I’m willing to share. Just know, c.w., I know exactly what you’re going through.
I’ll eventually go to jail for child support as I left the U.S. rather than just walk into prison. When the passport expires I’ll be just another slave and it is time we called this what it really is: slavery. What is slavery? Slavery is the act of forcing another to perform labor under threat of imprisonment if they cannot. And with the arrears and penalities yes its a life sentence. Slaves in the antebellum south *were* treated better than fathers today. Think about that. According to law on the books the master was required to care for the slave, food, shelter, etc. The new slavery doesn’t even require this. Jews in Hitlers ghettos were taxed at 65% … what is the % of income allowed for fathers after taxes and child support? 15%?
Now the future of this is rather plain. Those little camps FEMA has been building can hold millions – the perfect answer to overcrowded prisons. Fathers will simply be rounded up and put to work for the state making furniture or mining, or doing whatever else will make the bueracrats rich. As its FOR THE CHILDREN! not one vote of protest will happen and what better answer to a flagging economy. 150 million slaves. Get used to it, this is the future for the “land of the free”.
I didn’t read all the posts, I became slightly angry @ a comment about women and child support. I am a woman who pays approx. $1000 a month in support for my children, which I have no problem paying child support, just the amount of $$$$ they make you pay, because they are my children also……….What I do have a HUGE problem with is the man who doesn’t want to be a man, who wants to live off his ex-wife and the government. Who CHOOSES to work maybe one or two days a month and call that a “JOB”. Instead of utilizing his degree, he chooses to sit at home, while I have to work. I have to watch any overtime that I may be able to get, because as soon as he finds out, I’m back in court for an INCREASE. How many times should the courts allow the custodial parent (male or female) to get more?? When there isn’t any more to be gotten. My children have a hard time understanding why Mom can’t always make Christmas and Birthday gifts they way they want, but the truth is, what Dad physically purchased I BOUGHT, and get no credit for it. So I’m put in the position of using “plastic” to cover special events and then working overtime to pay it back, then back to court again for another increase. ITS A NEVER ENDING CYCLE!!!!
I agree with most of the posts here. I believe that the Child Support system is a scam to get people to pay for what the city, state, and government can’t afford to pay! They say they want to help the children but they constantly find ways to take from the children. This system is messed up!
I have spent some time reading these posts, and I am not surprised. Although I do not live in Tennessee, I see and hear these horror stories all the time. As a 20+ year survivor of domestic violence and abuse, I support fairness and equality, including father’s rights.
I know someone who left his wife last year, and before he did, talked to her about child support for his daughter who just turned 11. He told her that based on his budget, he could afford to pay $500 per month. She told him she could take him to court and get more – and she did – approx. $1200 per month for 1 child! Needless to say, when he told the judge he was giving her money when he moved out, the judge told him to “consider it a gift”. With that being said, when a decision was made on the case, he started out about $2g in arrears. This is in New York. Since then, he lost his job and is collecting unemployment and CS comes out. How can someone live on $110 per week?
My sister lost custody of her daughter to her ex-husband when her daughter was 3. She was making payments then fell into arrears due to job loss, and 15 years later, my niece is in college and living with her. My sister is paying my niece’s college tuition. Her ex had the option of “forgiving” the arrears so my sister can use $23,000 to pay for her daughter’s education. Her ex decided that she “owed” him the $23,000 and chose not to forgive the debt! So now, my sister is still paying $600 a month “child” support for a child that now lives with her! My sister lives in Georgia, her ex lives in Virginia.
No one can tell me that the system put in place to “protect” children works! I find it appalling that the custodial parent is not made to account for how the money is spent on the child(ren). It’s just an end-run around spousal maintenance!
I host a radio show on Saturdays, at 11 am EST. I want to branch out and discuss father’s rights on my show in the next few weeks, and are looking for people willing to share their experiences. If you are interested in voicing your opinions on the show, please reach out to me at healingmylifemysoul@yahoo.com, and put “Discussion Forum – Father’s Rights” in the subject. I look forward to everyone’s response~