Say Anything Blog

My brother has not worked in two years and part of the justification for remaining a “stay at home dad” to his other four (two of his and two of his wife’s) kids is that say he takes a job at $10 per hour.  After Child Support enforcement takes their half and he pays for babysitting for the youngest two that are still not in school full time, he actually comes up in the hole.  And that is at $10 per hour, not at wages that may be less than that.  Plus, his employer gets the garnishment notice and thinks he is a piece of crap from the get-go.  Great first impression is having to garnish your new employee’s wages for back child support.

By working and earning an income, on top of that situation, it drives up his family’s income and pushes up their income taxes.  At the end of the year, the IRS garnishes their refund, so if they ensure that his wife claims EXEMPT and pays no income tax in, then their refund is negligible.

Basically, the system is designed so that unemployed deadbeats can work under the table and be just fine, but if you owe child support, you better crawl into a hole cause the government is going to get their money.  And you know what his monthly bill for child support is (not counting his past due obligations for the last couple of years)--$150 a month.  The state of Arizona has suspended his drivers license, vehicle registration, has warrants out for him, and all the while, he goes to great lengths to be a deadbeat.  As soon as he makes more than minimum wage, they re-evaluate his child support obligation and raise it from $150 per month to whatever based on his new income.

So what is my assessment of the whole thing?  First, people need to be more selective on who the father or mohter of your children is going to be.  If you don’t want a deadbeat dad for your children, don’t have kids with deadbeats. 

If you don’t want to end up paying child support, don’t have kids with someone that you are going to end up divorcing or who is going to take off on you and the baby.  Be a good judge of spouses and of character in the people you date, sleep with, and marry.  Believe it or not, having children is totally preventable and marrying deadbeats is too.  If your boyfriend plays in a band part time and can’t hold a job, maybe he isn’t the right guy to have a kid with.  And if you are not through with college and have a good income and good education/job, try depoprovera or norplant.  The problem is that most people don’t follow these simple rules and it effectively ends their chances to make something out of their life because they are saddled with a huge child support payment or with some deadbeat dad/mom that doesn’t pay his/her fair share. 

The current system has littel effect on the self employed or those that don’t work.  It punishes those at the lower rungs of the wage ladder and prevents them from being able to get ahead.  And that is real good for the kids, isn’t it.

There are some lawyers who will take on a collection case for your ex’s arrearages for a percentage.

It’s an expensive way - you pay a third or more of what you’re owed in order to collect - but two-thirds is better than nothing.

The state people will give you no help at all.  It’s too much work for them.  Ducking out of state is almost guaranteed to get you out of paying support.  As you can see, it’s cheaper for the state types to take a big chunk of your limited income than to go after your ex’s.  I take it they didn’t even try to get his bucks for the foster care obligation, either, right?

I’ve read, but don’t know, that the system is set up so the more deadbeats they have the more money the state agency receives.

Sounds stupid enough to be true.

My sympathies.  I’ve been fucked by the child support system too, seems nobody is a winner with them.

[...] Child Support in Fargo, North Dakota On Say Anything, another blog, this entry appeared. Then there was a comment by a man who’s brother is being victimized in the same way. I think this is a problem. I don’t live any more in Fargo, but I know Fargo influencers who might decide to take this issue on. It’s a big one. Read the whole thing and the comments. Government run amuk.Read the whole thing and the comments.By 2sweet4u69 on October 30, 2005 at 1:38 pmI live in West Fargo, ND. I am a single mother of 3 kids. Awhile ago my two older children were put in foster care for a short amount of time. They are now back home with me and doing great! My problem is I started a new job in August and within two days of working child support garnished my wages for past due child support for when my kids were in foster care.Now, I don’t have a problem with paying that at all. What I do have a problem with is the amount that they think they need to take out. They are taking out $280.00 a month. I am working at the local high school right now when my kids are in school (about 22 hours a week because there is no way I can afford child care for my youngest). My last check they took exactly half of my paycheck which left me pretty much broke after paying electricity, phone and putting gas in my car. Now this is the same child support agency that has done pretty much nothing about my two older children’s dad not paying child support. His arrears for child support as of 10/27/2005 is $47,338.04. He moved to California to get away from child support and boy did it work!I have filled out an online application with Legal Assistance of North Dakota to see if they can help me. My thought is this: no matter what the payment is a month child support will get their money. I have asked them if they could lower my payments and they basically blew me off. I told them I am willing to pay $100.00 a month and they said that won’t do. This is a past due bill for child support - it’s not like my kids are still in foster care racking up more of a bill.I want to know what you people think of this situation. I fully believe in paying child support for you children whether it’s because you children were in foster care or because you’re the non-custodial parent, but some of the collection methods used by child support enforcement leave something to be desired. // posted by Gene Redlin @ 8:21 PM 0 comments    [...]

the reason for what they (CSED) do and why they get away with it, and why the courts or the legislature wont do anything is in youre state plan. The courts, the Attorney generals Office and yes CSED are contracted together, yes the courts are bound by contract to rule in favor of CSED, and no it has nothing to do with the welfare of the children, it has to do with revenue, every state has a plan and every state has contractual agreemnets with the courts, but Texas seemes to be the best one yet, and boy is it twisted.

Sorry to hear about your situation.  I am all too familiar with the Child Support Agency taking everything and leaving you with nothing.  This agency is ruthless and needs to be stopped.  Congress has cut their funding, but, that is not enough.