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Again, if financial support for children is so important, why isn't Mom required to financially support the children?
It's required because that's the laws of the state you live in, and a judge agreed with the mother and not you after spending $1000's of dollars on an attorney life isn't fare.
When I was growing up had a best friend his parents split when he was about 12 years old mother got custody and the house they lived in. She moved her BF in with her sat around drank alcohol all day. His father refused to pay my friend and his sister were forced to drop out of school and work at 16 to pay the rent.
After 15 years she got the DA after his father he had to back pay all the spousal and child support. He gave her a lump sum of 80k or something his mother and her BF went to Vegas for a month and burned though all the money my friend and his sister never saw a penny.
When my friend turned 18 he left his mother never spoke to her again he's in his mid 50's now. His sister ended up with a drug problems for years was in and out of rehabs.
Co-worker of mine had a rough marriage he met someone else and left his wife which he had 3 kids. She told him she would ruin him she went to court 4 times during the 18 years he paid child support. Every single time she went to court she was able to get all legal fees paid by him which ran into the 250k-300k range. She even turned him into the police claiming he molested his kids he was never charged for it but police investigated as well as CPS. Could you imagine the stress he was under.
I choose to never have kids because I never wanted to be in the situation I saw my friend went though.
I think at this point, OP, you might be better off going to a counselor to deal with your bitterness over how unfair your child support is, rather than trying to get a bunch of internet strangers to agree with you that child support is *completely* unfair to all fathers everywhere.
Is the ex the custodial parent? In general, it would not be well-advised for a custodial parent to live in a shared house with unrelated adults. The noncustodial parent can easily live in a shared house. Custodial parent cannot.
If the noncustodial parent can only afford to live in a shared house, is he really making enough money to fully fund half of his children's expenses? Probably not.
I did have two friends (female) who did this for a bit--they'd both divorced about the same time, and both had kids the same age. One had custody of her son, since the dad had to move out of state for his job (this was during the recession, so his choices were limited). The other had shared custody with her ex-husband, and they lived in the same metro area. The first friend and her ex-husband both made good money, the second friend and her husband were lower income and had been hit by the recession, so the second moved in with the first, since that's what she could best afford. Eventually the second one found a better-paying job in a lower COL area and she and her son moved.
If Mom doesn't work and doesn't earn any income whatsoever other than child support and/or alimony, it's crystal clear that she is not financially supporting the child.
That's not true. She could be remarried and her new husband works and pays the rent. His income / assets are not counted toward her support obligation. Or she could be living with her parents or other family member. If the child is young she won't be required to work nor will income be imputed.
It's going to be very rare that child support would cover all expenses so it stands to reason that mothers are contributing too, though if they are the primary caregiver they are contributing doubly - financially and with their time. If child support isn't enough and the mother doesn't contribute anything financially that's child neglect and CPS would get involved.
If financial support for a child that approximates 25-40% of Dad's gross income is so important, why are those in authority perfectly ok with Mom providing 0 financial support to their child?
Child support in almost all places in the US now are based on salary of the parents, not gender. In geographies like mine where most women work outside the home, child support is a toss up based on the formulas. Like math. Hard to **** with math.
Daycare costs more than $2000 a month per child in my area. Staying at home might be the most affordable thing to do.
How many noncustodial parents are paying enough to actually support a child in daycare, plus half of their clothing, housing costs, medical care, etc? I see plenty of noncustodial parents crying about paying a measly $1000 a month toward child support, as if magic will fulfill the rest of their child's needs.
Ideally, both parents should be working but in some cases with young kids, there's no feasible way for the custodial parent to work full time with the costs of daycare. Noncustodial parents shouldn't be absolved of their financial duty because the custodial parent would be working *just* to pay for daycare.
Daycare ends when the kids go to Kindergarten. And even then, even when there is no more daycare, there is still no requirement for Mom to financially support her kids. Not even to the tune of $1/wk.
Not sure why the OP thinks the custodial parent is not providing financially for the child. Depending on how much the non-custodial parent makes 25-40% of their income may not be too much.
I know many women who get less than $100 a week for 1-2 children (total, not each). They work as well and pay the bulk of the living expenses of those children. My teenager eats $100 a week by himself lol.
Most people IMO who complain about child support just want to whine unnecessarily. If you were living with your kid, you'd probably pay more. I make a very good income and pay over 50% of my income towards my household and my kids. My husband also works and pays a similar percentage than I do but one of us makes more than the other. Living expenses include housing and health insurance and oftentimes the custodial parent pays the brunt of that which can easily squash a measly $100-$200 a week. My husband used to pay $800 a month for our health insurance. Our mortgage back then was also $800 a month. So that is $1600 before you even get to food and clothing and transportation and school crap, etc.
If its so expensive to raise kids, then why aren't Mom's required to financially support them?
And by the way, claiming that your entire mortgage is a childcare expense is disingenuous at best, intentionally deceptive at worst.
If financial support for a child that approximates 25-40% of Dad's gross income is so important, why are those in authority perfectly ok with Mom providing 0 financial support to their child?
The answer is reproduction standards. Credit report, income verification, psychological profile, background check, interview of friends/neighbors/coworkers, DNA profiling. If you cannot pass a significant test then you’re not fit for reproductive activities.
Daycare ends when the kids go to Kindergarten. And even then, even when there is no more daycare, there is still no requirement for Mom to financially support her kids. Not even to the tune of $1/wk.
It doesn't end when the kid starts school if the parent is working unless the parent is very lucky to only work during school hours (well less than school hours to take into account commute time)
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