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Child Support Reform?

Should there be child support reform?

  • yes because the system is a little off

    Votes: 7 87.5%
  • no because the system is just fine

    Votes: 1 12.5%

  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .

creativedreams

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This comes to mind because I know a few fathers who simply cannot make it financially on their own...some get a divorce and end up living with their parents because it is mathematicaly impossible for them to live on their own. They get depressed because when they get their kids for the weekend they don't have a place of their own...etc.

Of course child support needs to be paid but I often wonder if the percentages are off?

It seems to be fine for individuals making over 45k yr but too much for anyone under 45k.

I don't know the real answer and am asking does anyone have some good insight?


This appears to be a very big issue with many fathers I know.
 
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I've known a few people that had to pay child support and it's never been pretty. As a parent I know how much it costs to feed and clothe my children per month. We live on a max of 200 dollars per month just for food. So it takes about 100 dollars for my kids in food. The doc says that he wishes alot of parents had kids as healthy as mine. We spend about 30 dollars per month on clothes. Thats about it. $130 per month for the nessesities. I don't include housing or anything else in that number because I would have to have that even if I didn't have kids. Family income is about 12k per year. And while we may be living on check to check we are still living alot better than others. So why is it that the child support for alot of people are around $500+? Thats more than what my wife gets on one check. Yes I realize that the amount would be less for me if me and my wife were to ever seperate. But still....I see no reason that a child support check should be so damn much.
 
If they can't make it on their own with their child support payments, how is the mother supposed to make it on her own and raise the children if the payments were reduced?

One of the reasons why the State encourages marriage in the first place. People can't afford to raise children on their own.
 
Child support has MANY issues with it at the moment.

Think about it this way though...

When you drain one parent of their money to feed the other... you create a lesser environment for the children to be in at the "other" parents home.

For example: My father had to pay child support AND alimony (all wages considered he was losing over 70% of his income) My mother was able to buy a house, a nice car, and a nice truck with her new boyfriend (since you stop receiving alimony if you marry). While my Father lived in a small apartment (with his new girlfriend) they shared a 10 year old truck, and get this... Because HER income was added to the household (my Dad's girlfriend) my Dad had to pay MORE in child support.

I ****ing hate the child support system to be completely honest. There are just too many rotten ****ing bitches in the world who use it as nothing other than an income they feel that they are entitled to.

Here in washington recently there was a meeting of sorts in which they discussed raising the percentage available for child support. Do you know who was notified? JUST the custodial parents... not the people having to pay. They were going to try to increase the amount from 85% total (which is still ****ing nutts) to 85% PER CHILD. How that works I have no idea, but luckily there is an organization here that has been kind enough to provide the same service for the people being raped of their income.
 
If they can't make it on their own with their child support payments, how is the mother supposed to make it on her own and raise the children if the payments were reduced?

One of the reasons why the State encourages marriage in the first place. People can't afford to raise children on their own.

I agree that some Mother's are having just as hard of a time in some cases...but in others I see the Mothers going on nice vacations, and living good while the Father has a constant day to day struggle and is completely demoralized.

This is why I'm not sure of a good solution?

Sometimes I wonder if it actually gives some women incentive to divorce,....be a self made daycare center...etc.?
 
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I ****ing hate the child support system to be completely honest. There are just too many rotten ****ing bitches in the world who use it as nothing other than an income they feel that they are entitled to.
.


I agree with you here. Alot of women use the money to buy themselves new shoes or clothes then complain to the father that their kids don't got no shoes or clothes.
 
I agree that some Mother's are having just as hard of a time in some cases...but in others I see the Mothers going on nice vacations, and living good while the Father has a constant day to day struggle and is completely demoralized.

This is why I'm not sure of a good solution?

Sometimes I wonder if it actually gives some women incentive to divorce,....be a self made daycare center...etc.?

As it stands courts tend to favor the mother for the role of custodial parent. So there's really little to no RISK when it comes to divorcing (if you are a woman that is)

Hell, in some states you get more than just the child support. I can see how it would be very appealing to spit out kids and/or marry in order to set yourself up.

I don't know. I really think that the child support should be more realistic of a wage and that it should be on a card similar to the food stamp card. So it is used only for necessities. Anything beyond that the custodial parents should have to cover.
 
I agree with you here. Alot of women use the money to buy themselves new shoes or clothes then complain to the father that their kids don't got no shoes or clothes.

That's how it was with me growing up.

My custodial parents had a great life. But when it came time for school shopping either I got the cheapest possible **** there was, or my Dad had to fund it.

My Mother was receiving a little over $800 a month from my Father... she and her boyfriend (untill the alimony period ended) both worked, and she couldnt ****ing buy me school clothes...

But she got herself a new car, got my now step-dad a brand new truck.
 
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That's how it was with me growing up.

My custodial parents had a great life. But when it came time for school shopping either I got the cheapest possible **** there was, or my Dad had to fund it.

My Mother was receiving a little over $800 a month from my Father... she and her boyfriend (untill the alimony period ended) both worked, and she couldnt ****ing buy me school clothes...

But she got herself a new car, got my now step-dad a brand new truck.

I think requiring the parent who has custody of the child to give receipts to the parent who has to pay child support would be a step in the right direction.
 
That's how it was with me growing up.

My custodial parents had a great life. But when it came time for school shopping either I got the cheapest possible **** there was, or my Dad had to fund it.

My Mother was receiving a little over $800 a month from my Father... she and her boyfriend (untill the alimony period ended) both worked, and she couldnt ****ing buy me school clothes...

But she got herself a new car, got my now step-dad a brand new truck.

Yeah, my husband has a daughter from a previous marriage and has a situation like that. It's nice to have an innocent child to tell you the truth where the money is really going, but it's also frustrating because you can't seem to do a damn thing about it.
 
As it stands courts tend to favor the mother for the role of custodial parent. So there's really little to no RISK when it comes to divorcing (if you are a woman that is)

Hell, in some states you get more than just the child support. I can see how it would be very appealing to spit out kids and/or marry in order to set yourself up.

I don't know. I really think that the child support should be more realistic of a wage and that it should be on a card similar to the food stamp card. So it is used only for necessities. Anything beyond that the custodial parents should have to cover.

I wonder if it would help if the Mother's receiving support should show expense receipts at the end of the year to show how much money is actually going towards support?
 
Child support has MANY issues with it at the moment.

Think about it this way though...

When you drain one parent of their money to feed the other... you create a lesser environment for the children to be in at the "other" parents home.

For example: My father had to pay child support AND alimony (all wages considered he was losing over 70% of his income) My mother was able to buy a house, a nice car, and a nice truck with her new boyfriend (since you stop receiving alimony if you marry). While my Father lived in a small apartment (with his new girlfriend) they shared a 10 year old truck, and get this... Because HER income was added to the household (my Dad's girlfriend) my Dad had to pay MORE in child support.

I ****ing hate the child support system to be completely honest. There are just too many rotten ****ing bitches in the world who use it as nothing other than an income they feel that they are entitled to.

Here in washington recently there was a meeting of sorts in which they discussed raising the percentage available for child support. Do you know who was notified? JUST the custodial parents... not the people having to pay. They were going to try to increase the amount from 85% total (which is still ****ing nutts) to 85% PER CHILD. How that works I have no idea, but luckily there is an organization here that has been kind enough to provide the same service for the people being raped of their income.

If a person makes $1000 per month and has to pay 85% of that income in child support thats $850 thats going towards feeding and clothing the kids. Even just 1 kid since it's "total". Thats BS. NO child needs that much to live on. And since $850 is taken away from $1000 that leaves just $150 for a father to live on. How is ANY adult suppose to beable to live on that? Especially in Washington? Which from my experiance is one of the most expensive states to live in.
 
I think requiring the parent who has custody of the child to give receipts to the parent who has to pay child support would be a step in the right direction.

I must have been writing my post when your same suggestion came up:)
 
This comes to mind because I know a few fathers who simply cannot make it financially on their own...some get a divorce and end up living with their parents because it is mathematicaly impossible for them to live on their own. They get depressed because when they get their kids for the weekend they don't have a place of their own...etc.

Of course child support needs to be paid but I often wonder if the percentages are off?

It seems to be fine for individuals making over 45k yr but too much for anyone under 45k.

I don't know the real answer and am asking does anyone have some good insight?


This appears to be a very big issue with many fathers I know.

If a man can't keep it in his pants, and makes a kid as a result, he is responsible.
 
If a man can't keep it in his pants, and makes a kid as a result, he is responsible.

If a women can't keep her legs closed then she is responsible.

See how that works? Remember it's a two way street. It takes two to tango. etc etc.
 
If a man can't keep it in his pants, and makes a kid as a result, he is responsible.

I totally agree with that, but what about the woman's responsibility? If she is not using that money to support their child but says she is and is not getting enough and the judge takes even more money from the guy, do you not want to see justice for that?

To me both parents are responsible for raising a child -within their means- and a separation should not deter that, but the current child support laws are outrageous and not realistic at all. I have an infant in daycare and to support her- my half is probably about $700 a month (that's an overestimate too). That's including her food, shelter, daycare and clothes in my half. So is it fair to have a guy pay more than that a month to support a child, when their half of the support is less? I don't think so.
 
If a man can't keep it in his pants, and makes a kid as a result, he is responsible.

Responsible to half of the childs actual support expenses maybe but not to be sucked dry from money and have your spirit demoralized and crushed....:smash:

The ex-wife/girlfriend is the one on the right:flame:
 
If a person makes $1000 per month and has to pay 85% of that income in child support thats $850 thats going towards feeding and clothing the kids. Even just 1 kid since it's "total". Thats BS. NO child needs that much to live on. And since $850 is taken away from $1000 that leaves just $150 for a father to live on. How is ANY adult suppose to beable to live on that? Especially in Washington? Which from my experiance is one of the most expensive states to live in.

It makes absolutely no sense.

Minimum wage here is almost 9 bucks an hour at the moment, that goes to show the cost of living.

What it really comes down to is nobody giving a **** about the non-custodial parent.

Basically people (****heads) just look at the situation and go, "well, guess you'd better find out a way to make it work." AKA "**** happens buddy!"
 
The funny thing is they use Rent, transportation (vehicle), and all utilities in their equation when they are figuring how much child support should be paid.

I could agree with the rent and utilities as you would (probably) need a bigger place, and use up more resources... however, they don't look at the excess amount, they just take the entire bill into their figure.

The car deal.. yeah, about that.

If you had no child, and were never with the person you had the child with, you would still pay for your own car. **** off with that nonsense.
 
Responsible to half of the childs actual support expenses maybe but not to be sucked dry from money and have your spirit demoralized and crushed....:smash:

The ex-wife/girlfriend is the one on the right:flame:

This is one of the biggest reasons the system is so ****ed.

How are you able to have a healthy relationship with a parent you see twice a month, in the ghetto area of whatever town they can now afford to live in after bleeding themselves dry to pay for your mothers shoes?

In some cases the "other" parent ends up living in a hostile area just because thats where they CAN live (or the parent option as you said) How then is the child supposed to form a valid bond with that parent when (twice a month) they see that parent in horrible conditions?

The whole thing bugs me beyond belief.
 
This is one of the biggest reasons the system is so ****ed.

How are you able to have a healthy relationship with a parent you see twice a month, in the ghetto area of whatever town they can now afford to live in after bleeding themselves dry to pay for your mothers shoes?

In some cases the "other" parent ends up living in a hostile area just because thats where they CAN live (or the parent option as you said) How then is the child supposed to form a valid bond with that parent when (twice a month) they see that parent in horrible conditions?

The whole thing bugs me beyond belief.

The whole thing bugs me beyond belief too and was wondering if anyone else here had the same feelings.
 
I must have been writing my post when your same suggestion came up:)

I think another idea would be to set up an electronic credit card type system where instead of actually getting a check the individual gets a card similar to a access/food stamp card. That way restrictions can be put in place and the person paying child support and at the end of the month the person paying can get a statement sheet. It would still be open to fraud because the person holding the card can go shopping for someone else in exchange for the money, but the parent who doesn't get custody can visit to see if those things were purchased for the care of the child or ask the child if he or she actually received whats on the end of the month statement.
 
I think requiring the parent who has custody of the child to give receipts to the parent who has to pay child support would be a step in the right direction.

I don't know about receipts because you can make that look like just about anything, plus you can't really prove specifically what the money is being spent on, only that you're getting receipts for clothes, etc.

What I'd like to see is the state issuing debit cards to the custodial parent with the support money available for purchase and every cent of that money can be tracked to specific purchases. That way you know that the mother isn't using it to pay for car insurance and then sending receipts for something else she dug out of a trash can.
 
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