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Child Support - Page 2

I applaud your son and the mom for being able to work it out privately. When the courts get involved -- oy veh, what a nightmare!

Having said that here's a couple more questions:

Should a non-custodial parent be allowed to see their kids if they are not paying child support?

Should a person be put in jail for non-payment of child support?

What do you think about wage garnishments?

How far should the courts/the law be allowed to go in entering judgments and enforcing them??

Roz

Support Child

Yes, they should. The non-custodial parent should be forced legally to pay, but if they have no income and can't pay, they still should be allowed visitation. Child support is not something you pay for permission to see your children. It is an obligation. Visiting with your children is your right as long as you don't physically harm them. By preventing the non-custodial parent visitation for not paying support, you are doing more harm to your child. The child benefits by visits by the non-custodial parent. I don't think the child should ever be used as a form of punishment or control towards the non-custodial parent. Under any circumstance. You might say the parent not paying child support doesn't deserve to see their child, but the child deserves to see the parent. The good of the child should always be center not getting even or punishing one of the parents.

As a last resort only. Once you put the parent in jail, they cannot pay any support because they will not have an income. So, jail, I believe, should be only as all else has failed. Incidently, the jailing is for non-compliance with a Court Order which we are all subject to in any case, not just child support.

If a parent has shown they don't willingly and reliably make their child support payments, then their wages should be garnished so that the support is payed. In addition, if there is a back amount, garnish their bank accounts and their tax refund checks. This is not different than what the bank would do to you if you didn't pay your credit card bill. It is a financial obligation which you legally must meet.

For enforcement, as far as necessary to get you to comply. First they should attempt to levy against your wages. If you are self-employed and deliberately sheild income, then they should put you in jail and attach whatever property you own.

As far as deciding how much you must pay, I feel that should be a uniform law and it should be a percentage of your income. Someone earning $100,000 can afford to pay more in support than someone earning $10,000. In both cases, we need to remember that they do have the right to go on with their life and they need to be able to live on what they make, but a percentage of their income should go to supporting their child just like it would if they had that child living in their home.

I have been on both sides of this issue. I received child support for my son, and my ex-husband paid a very large amount in child support while we were married. So, I think I see both sides. I see unfairness at times on both sides of the issue. All in my opinion, of course.

Edited: tenaheff on 30th Dec, 2004 - 4:10pm

Child Support Reviews Consumer & Travel Family Culture

It depends on the circumnstances of why the parent is not paying child support. If the person is working and decides he/she do not want to pay child support then I think he/she has no right to see child since the child is not going to live by 'love' or 'visits' alone.

Yes, if he/she has shown he purposely decided not to make the payments.

Not very sure on what wage garnishments are, can you explain me please?.

Until the person pays for what he owes!

Page 2 Support Child

It is when the Court orders the employer to send a portion of your pay to them for the Child Support (or any other Court ordered debt) before giving the remainder to the employee. Also, bank garnishments are when the Bank is ordered to give all (or up to the amount of back support owed) the money in an account over to the Court to be paid to the person to whom money is owed.

Support Child

Tena thanks for the explanation. Based on that if the parent do not want topay child support then I agree with the wage garnishments.

Child Support

I think that they should. I mean I would let my ex see my oldest daughter when he would call and ask to see her, even though he was a dead-beat dad for most of her young life. But I am a very 'family oriented' person and was raised that family is important. So when he made the effort for a visit, I was more than happy to let him spend time with her.

I think that they should. I know that here where I live, if the absent parent gets a month behind on their child support they take the case back to court and suspend their driver's license. It remains suspended until child support is caught up in full.

But I have also heard that where I live, they have been known to jail the absent parent for failure to pay child support when they are behind, I think the amount is close to $4000. They do time in the county lock up and service work to earn money that goes directly towards their back child support.

Yea, I think that they should garnish the child support out of the absent parent's check. My ex has it garnished out of his gross earnings. He doesn't like it that it is garnished, but he also has told me that if it wasn't garnished, he probably wouldn't pay at all.

But because my ex is behind in his child support payments, I also receive his tax refund check every year until he is caught up to date on his payments.

I have also been told that in some places Child Support can also be garnished from unemployment checks, but I have not verified that information at the time of me posting.

I think that the courts should be allowed to use all paths that they can legally to enforce child support payment. The system has worked for me now, and my daughter does get her check every month. I believe also that the percentage of how much they take should be based on a certain percentage that they can withhold from the absent parent's wages. I don't know about every where else, but here, the minimum amount is 10% (which is what I get for my oldest daughter), but I do know some that have to pay as much as 24%. I also don't think that the child support should be set so high that the absent parent ends up going into financial ruin just to make sure they are getting it paid.

Child Support - Page 2

I love this place! So far, we are all on the same page, basically I really appreciate your input on these questions.

I do allow my daughter to see her father, even though we don't have a court order for visitation. I allow her to GO WITH someone else in the family -- grandparents or aunts and uncles -- but NEVER alone... He is an alcoholic, besides violating a court order for child support and dodging a couple of drunk driving warrants. If he were arrested while she was with him alone, she would end up in the clutches of the Child Protective Services, and that would be a disaster for everyone. So I arrange for him to have supervised visitation -- but never come right out and say it that way. What a nightmare...

Anyway, ready for more?

What should a person, who is faithfully paying child support, do when:

A. The person receiving child support buys a luxury car, but the kids have holes in their shoes?

B. The person receiving child support accepts a job offer 3000 miles away?

C. The person receiving child support allows someone (boyfriend or girlfriend) to live with them and the children?

Child Support Culture Family Travel & Consumer Reviews - Page 2

If that was me and I was the one paying the child support, I would have to hire an attorney and drag the case back into court and change the arrangements of the child support payments.

My uncle did this. His ex was a junkie (major drug user and drinker, which he couldn't prove at the time they went to court the first go around) and he was concerned that the money he paid for child support was going to support her habits. So he attorney proposed the the child support be direct deposited into a checking account in the bank. All moneys that were withdrawn were to have receipts to prove exactly where the money went and what it was spent on. This system worked for him, but it may not work for everyone else.

Now this is topic has come up with my ex and myself. He was more than happy to let me move with my child and that we would draw up some sort of visitation papers (which he doesn't have any set visitation rights) that would state he would have gotten my child during the summer months and I would have had her during the school year and of course every other holiday and what not would be decided and driving half way between where ever I lived and he lived to pick up or drop her off.

I had a big problem with this in the past of my ex not liking any of the guys that I was dating and didn't have any over night stays or anything like that. But then his taste in women became questionable and when I pointed this out to him, he reluctantly let that issue pass. But on a personal note, Shady is the only guy my ex ever liked (not that my ex's opinion had any bearing on whether or not me and Shady got married or what not.)