The Child Support Debate
This article in the Star Tribune on the changing child support laws is interesting. On the one hand, it's only fair to consider the incomes of both families when determining support, but on the other, if the non custodial parent has another family, their support to their first family is lessened. Strange, I didn't realize that once someone had children with a different parent, that their first family suddenly started living more cheaply so as not to bother the new family as much. I was fortunate. When my parents divorced my father was required to pay $200 a month and not required to cover additional expenses such as doctor bills, school supplies, etc. But my parents came to an agreement that he would pay $400 a month and cover some of those additional expenses. We still didn't have much, but we had more than other divorced families with the same income. I have always gotten annoyed at non custodial parents who complain that their child support isn't always spent on their children only - that the parent has purchased new clothes while their children outgrew their clothing. First of all, children grow fast. It's not hard to quickly outgrow their clothing. Secondly, in one particular instance, the non-custodial parent drove a BMW, owned his own home and always bought very nice clothing for himself while his ex-wife rented, drove a much older, less known car and bought something new for herself here and there. When he started whining I pointed all of this out to him and told him to get over it and asked if he could raise three boys on what he paid his ex wife if they lived with him full time and maybe he should give her a little extra so she could do something nice for herself every once in a while for raising his children 70% of the time. But I also see the example of another friend who had to pay more when she got remarried because her new husband's income was taken into account. Her ex husband's new wife made a great deal of money, but since he was the custodial parent, it didn't matter. She also has the kids about 40% of the time including the expenses that came up during that time, but he still got the full amount.
So I hope this new law works and is fair. Mostly I just wish both parents were more interested in the welfare of their children than fighting about money. It worked for my parents.
So I hope this new law works and is fair. Mostly I just wish both parents were more interested in the welfare of their children than fighting about money. It worked for my parents.
1 Comments:
I agree on everything you said! I'm 14 and my parents are constantly fighting about child support. I feel like this, my mom works like dog for way less than what she deserves, but that's the government what can you do. My dad works hard for his money and I can honestly say that much of it does goes to me not ONLY in child support but he spends on me every time I stay with him which used to be every weekend now it's about once a month. He is driving a Ford F-150 and his new wife is driving a 2007 Tahoe, but that's his debt not mine. If he works and pays his child support like he's supposed to then I say I should have more. Some of my clothes are from two or three years ago but they still fit. We're in a recession and I understand times are hard. My daddy bought me an iPhone for Christmas last year and he pays the bill every month. So bottom line my dad does his part. My mom needs help but my dad isn't a billionaire. It's not fair for her to expect everything from him and he doesn't even live with us. I personally think that our government is a little shy of perfect. I could go on and on but what I'm trying to say is all parents, divorced, married, or single have money problems. This is America and this country is spoiled we are so used to having so much that we don't know what to do when we don't have what we want.
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