Issues of Child Support

Child support is intended to assist the custodial parent in maintaining a lifestyle for the child that he or she would have had if the divorce had not happened. It is rare that this really happens. Two roadblocks stand in the way. The custodial parent usually is unable, at least for the first few years, to earn enough cash to make up the difference between child support and the family’s needs. The parent who is supposed to pay the child support may fail to honor the full amount.

In modern society, women still become the custodial parent far more often than men. This means in most instances that the parent least able financially to support the child has custody. She will need to go through some sort of vocational rehabilitation if her wage earning ability is to ever rival her ex-husband’s.

Because the lawyers fight hard to get as much for each client as possible, this can result in a child support agreement that is more punitive to the parents than beneficial to the child. If the amount is excessively large, the burden on the father can be can be so oppressive as to make it nearly impossible for him to live. This is even more pronounced if he remarries and has a second family to support. If the mother is unable to find a comparable lawyer to the father, she may end up with a pitiful amount that leaves her in deep poverty with the children while the father lives quite well.

Historically, both of these scenarios have another problem. If the non-custodial parent does a lot financially for the child or assists in child care to help the custodial parent be able to stretch the income to cover more, this is rarely considered if the parents end back up in court over the amount of the support. It is almost never the parent complaining about paying too much. Most of these cases are suits to gain more support. If several years have passed, inflation will have made the support amount appear less. If the mother is doing much better financially, she will always get the increase because she often can now afford to hire a more qualified attorney.

Many times the non-custodial parent will withhold paying child support if he or she disagrees over how the money is used. There is a fallacy floating about that says all child support should go into an account to only be spent on the child. The problem with this logic is that the home that the child lives in, the food that is eaten, the utility bills, etc. all are influenced by the fact that the child lives in that home most of the time. Even a portion of the car can be attributed to the cost of keeping the child.

Withholding the support creates a hardship on the child as much or more than the parent. The same is true when the other parent fails to honor medical bill assistance and other court ordered support other than cash each month. While child support can be forced through garnishments and other means, these other financial obligations are usually dependent upon the good will of the other parent.