Child Support

Menstuff® has compiled the following information regarding Child Support.



Child Support Casualties

Financial Consequences of Divorce and the Support of Children

Passport rules snag child support cash

Case Could Freeze Sperm Donations

How much it will cost to raise a child

Child Support - It's Not About Money

Shocking Data on Incarceration of Fathers: New Report Suggests Gender Bias

New Mexico Governor Richardson Renigns on Campaign Promise

Snippets

Related issues: Divorce & Custody, Talking With Kids About Tough Issues, DNA Testing, Divorce Terms

Books

Resources: Divorce, Families, Catalogues (some provide lists of lawyers), Requests for Help (See right sidebar.)



Child Support Casualties



According to the unConstitutional family court's rulings, that made the "Most Wanted" financially responsible for amounts they are unable to pay and visitors to their children, the public is to believe these 32 parents would rather, have their driver's license revoked, lose their voting rights, lose access to firearms for defense of home and self-protection, lose their job and ability to find a job, be incarcerated and even to be forced to the point of taking their own lives, than pay money to support their children. The problem is, even after their children have been stolen from them, most have paid all they can and are NOT ABLE to pay anymore.

Trevor Goddard, 37, of North Hollywood, California, committed suicide on June 8, 2003. Goddard was at the height of his career. His credits include, Mortal Kombat, Men of War, JAG, Deep Rising, Gone in 60 Seconds, and the recently released, Pirates of the Caribbean. Few know that Trevor was in the middle of a divorce and finding out just what that means to a loving father. There were many articles on his death, but, only one mentioned his pending divorce.

Unknown man, unknown age, of Kendallville, Indiana, committed possible suicide in the only article released on his death. There was no response, the typical media response, to the email sent by his close friend to the 22 email addresses at kpc news. When this article is pubished, the author will send them the address of this article, the name of the unknown man, the link to their story, the link to the email to them, ask them their secrets to sound sleep and ask them, again, to do a follow-up story on James Betzner. They must have some great remedies to sleep after ignoring the email sent to them and still not publishing another story. Will those remedies work for the next unknown man article?

Robert R Steadman, 33, of Sewickley Township, Pennsylvania, hung himself in April, 2003 during his second imprisonment for failure to pay child support. Since Robert was only one sentence of the story dealing with suicide watch policy changing for that prison, it is unknown if this second jailing was a 90 day recycle. The recycle is a jail term of 90 days. After 90 days, the prisoner is released, only to be greeted by another incarceration for failure to pay child support for 90 days and the cycle is continued.

Reinaldo Rivera, 25, of New Jersey was jailed for failure to pay child support. He hung himself with a sheet after one week in jail in April, 2003.

Mark Edward Dexel, 42, of Canada hung himself on January, 23, 2003 in a Kamloops motel after he was banned from seeing his son by the Canadian family courts.

Derrick K. Miller, 43, of San Diego, California, walked up the steps courthouse steps to the San Diego family court's security guard on January 7, 2002. Miller had recently been judged to pay support he obviously did not have. While holding his divorce papers in one hand and pulling a pistol in the other, he told the guard, "You did this to me!". Derrick quickly pulled the trigger, on the only option left to him and many other fathers, that sent a bullet through his head and died.

Carl Tarzwell, Jr., 37, was arrested on June 20, 2001, for failing to pay child support. Carl hung himself within a few hours of being jailed. Carl's death was revealed in a November, 2001, article dealing with excessive suicides in prison.

James Gunter, 45, an emergency services police officer, described as "one of those steely, go-to guys, a natural in a crisis", took his life on the third try while incarcerated for the third time. James was arrested for failing to pay child support and failing to stay away from his ex-wife. Gunter's daughter stated, "He couldn't stand to be away from his kids,". James Gunter found peace on September 15, 2000. It was not until March 24, 2002 that Jame's story became noted by the press in a story about jails being at fault for lack of care in suicides.

Randy Johnson, 34, of Sommerset, Kentucky hung himself on the second day of his incarceration for felony failure to pay child support in January, 2001. He could have been sentenced to 5 years. Johnson worked for the Sugar Shack making donuts. His employer said he was trying to lead a new life. Johnson's story is revealed in an article about suicides in Boyle County prison.

Darren Bruce White, 34, of B.C., Canada, killed himself sometime between March 12, 2000 and March 17, 2000, when his body was found. Darren's suicide came shortly after a court ruling he was capable, something US family courts are also known to do as attested by the author in his personal experience, of paying $2,071 a month in support. The court had no concern that he was paying $439 a month support in his first marriage and was only making $950 a month salary. White's daughter, Ashlee, expresses her grief regarding the current system.

Dimitrius Underwood, 22, the defensive end for the Miami Dolphins, slashed his throat with a kitchen knife when the Lansing police tried to arrest him for failing to pay child support. Dimitrius's story, due to his notoriety, was published quickly on September 28, 1999. But, as usual, the article only dealt with the effect and not the cause.

David Guinn, 38, incarcerated for probation violations and was behind on his child support, hung himself on November, 1998.

James A. Poore, 33, of Bristol, Tennessee, arrested for failing to appear at a child custody hearing, found a shotgun while on a work release program and promptly blew a hole in his chest in March, 1999. Sheriff Eddie Barnes stated it would not stop the work release program.

Kenneth Taylor, 40, of Nebraska, hung himself while jailed for felony child support in November, 1999.

Every year 24,000 men commit suicide. Every 22 minutes one male commits suicide. Based on the fact that a divorced male is 2.5 to 3 times more likely to commit suicide than the average male, the estimate for divorced men, most likely fathers since there is tremendously more trauma placed on them, committing suicide every year would be 15,000 to 18,000 men.

When will it stop? How will it stop? Where is the men's backlash? Many splintered equal parenting groups are asking the same questions.

One small group of 13 fathers, Hunger Strike for Justice, has pledged to start a hunger strike on September 25, 2003 in an effort to break the media blockade and the lack of government address of family, children and individual rights. Their determination, resolve and effectiveness is yet to be tested, but, they have had enough of injustice.

Felons can't vote. The dead can't demonstrate. Men running from incarceration can't take legal remedies. Jail severely limits protesting and information dissemination. Those that are stretched to their limit have neither the effort, nor the time to do very much, except to be with their children when they can, if they can. Many that would fight this deadly system see no hope and have been crushed, emotionally, financially and spiritually. Many are afraid they will lose the little access they have to their children if they make waves. Media ignores the problems being caused and promotes the deadbeat bandwagon. The government does the same, while spending billions more than they collect in the child support scam and even more billions for those incarcerated. That just does not leave many left to be activists.

It is estimated that the total national number of incarcerated fathers for failure to pay child support is 250,000. Some believe the number is closer to 400,000. According to the Missouri legislative report, in 1998 there were 1,770 misdemeanor failure jailings and 900 felony jailings. Every year, there has been more and more hysteria to lock up "deadbeats" by the states. The author has seen similarly populated states in the 4,000 range in years 2000 and 2001. It's not hard to see those numbers could very well be true.

Source: Ed Ward, MD, mensnewsdaily.com/archive/w/ward/03/ward072703.htm



Child Support - It's Not About Money



Most couples start out by loving their kids and putting the needs of their kids ahead of everything else. But somehow, their values and good intentions can go astray, when the couples break up. Relationships aren't easy, but the ending of a relationship, when kids are involved, is especially tough. The biggest losers, when these relationships end, are the kids. Not only have they lost some stability, but chances are they'll be put in the middle of a custody battle.

Now that the relationship is over, what happens to the kids? Under normal conditions, both parents will want the kids, so a court usually decides on custody. After the court decides which parent keeps the kids, it will also determine child support payments. These are payments made by the parent without custody to the parent with custody. These payments help with the expenses of raising the kids. There are many factors that go into calculating child support payments, and these include the needs of the child, the income of the parent with custody and the paying parent's ability to make payments.

Child support seems cut and dry, but it's not. Once deciding the custody of the kids, the court also plays a role in deciding the visitation rights of the non custodial parent. And just because someone is a parent doesn't mean they'll automatically get visitation rights. If the court thinks that the non custodial parent may be a threat to their kids, the court can limit visitation or only offer supervised visitation. Many non custodial parents use their lack of visitation as an excuse for not making payments. And many accuse the custodial parents of spending the payments on items unrelated to the kids.

In most cases, the court gives the mother custody of the kids. One of the basis of child support, is that in the past, men had all the wealth, so if the men left the relationships, the women and children were normally left in poverty. Of course, you don't need to have been married to be responsible for making child support payments. Many men carry the logo "deadbeat dad", because they've gone years without supporting their kids. Somewhere along the way the purpose of child support has gotten lost. Child support is about the child. It's about helping support the human life that you've created. What reasons could parents have for turning their backs on their kids.

Source: By Michael Russell, ezinearticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell



Shocking Data on Incarceration of Fathers: New Report Suggests Gender Bias



Further analysis suggests that women who fail to pay all of their child support are incarcerated only one-eighth as often as men with similar violations. Several possible explanations of these results other than gender bias are unsupported by the data, strengthening the view that gender bias against fathers is a major factor in the family courts.

The report was painstakingly compiled by Fathers and Families member Terry Brennan, a task that required at least seven months and dozens of patient letters to Massachusetts officials. Invoking the Massachusetts Public Disclosure Law (Freedom of Information Act), Brennan wrote to the sheriff of each county and to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to obtain the data. The sheriffs of three counties (Bristol, Hampden, and Worcester) either refused to provide data, or claimed their record systems made it impossible to do so. The absence of data from these counties is unlikely to change the overall results. Brennan deserves respect for his tenacity, intelligence, and patience in carrying out this valuable study.

The large majority of incarcerations from the Probate and Family Courts are due to findings of contempt of court for incomplete payment of child support orders. A small number could be due to non-payment of attorney fees, GAL fees, or alimony. Violations of restraining orders are unlikely to be a factor in this data because violators are incarcerated after trials in the District Courts, not from the Probate and Family Courts.

Perhaps there are reasons other than gender bias that could account for the stunning gender differences in incarcerations from the Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts. Many more fathers than mothers are non-custodial parents, so it would be expected that more of them would be incarcerated for incomplete payment. The latest national data from the US Census Bureau shows that mothers are the custodial parents in 82% of cases, and fathers in only 18% (which may in itself reflect gender bias). (see Table below.) Even so, if incomplete payment of child support occurred in exact proportion to custodial status, then we would expect mothers to account for 18% of incarcerations, not 1.5% to 5%.

However, not all custodial parents have a court order entitling them to child support. In fact, only 54.9% of custodial mothers have such a court order, while only 30.4% of custodial fathers have such an order (this large disparity may again suggest gender bias). Taking the Census Bureau data further, we find that 58% of custodial mothers with a child support order did not receive the full amount  in other words, the fathers were in arrears in 58% of those cases where a child support order had been made against them. Custodial fathers failed to receive the full amount of child support ordered from the mothers in 65.9% of cases. In other words, mothers ordered to pay child support pay in full less frequently than fathers who are ordered to pay child support.

If one carries through the arithmetic, one finds that 12% of those in arrears are mothers, and 88% of those in arrears are fathers, based on national data. This disparity is mostly due to the fact that so few fathers are awarded custody of their children, and even when they are, so few of the mothers are required to pay child support.

Based on national data, if incarceration for non-payment of child support occurred at equal rates for men and women who are in arrears, 88% of those incarcerated would be men, not 95% to 98.5%, and 12% would be women (since 12% of those in arrears are women). If, as Brennans report shows, as few as 1.5% of those incarcerated for non-payment of child support in Massachusetts are women, instead of the expected 12%, then women in arrears are incarcerated at a rate eight times less than their numbers warrant.

Perhaps it is possible that mothers in arrears escape incarceration because the amounts of money they owe are so small as to be unimportant. It is true, based on the national data from the US Census Bureau, that non-custodial mothers are not ordered to pay as much as are non-custodial fathers, but the difference is not large ($5,601 versus $5,997 per year). (Since child support amounts are governed by fixed formulae called Child Support Guidelines, they may be less susceptible to gender bias. This disparity is probably due to the fact that women on average earn less than men.)

How much of the child support order is paid, on average? Once again, fathers ordered to pay child support do better than mothers ordered to pay child support, paying 45% of the order on average, versus 38% of the order on average paid by non-custodial mothers. Thus, the average dollar amount of arrearages is greater for mothers than it is for fathers ($2,295 not paid by fathers versus $2,542 not paid by mothers). Thus, although mothers with orders to pay child support have a higher rate of incomplete payment, pay a smaller percentage of their child support order, and have larger dollar arrears than fathers, they are incarcerated at lower rates.

In summary, Brennans research shows stunning results: up to 98.5% of those incarcerated from 2001 through 2011 from the Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts are men. The majority of these incarcerations are for incomplete payment of child support.

For the first time, we have direct evidence that the large excess of fathers incarcerated for child support arrearages compared to mothers cannot be accounted for simply by the fact that there are more fathers ordered to pay child support. Mothers with child support arrears are incarcerated at approximately one-eighth of the rate that would be justified by their numbers if fathers and mothers in arrears were treated equally. Mothers in arrears are incarcerated at lower rates even though they have higher rates of incomplete payment, pay a smaller percentage of their child support order, and have larger arrears than fathers. In the absence of other explanations, these data suggest that gender bias against fathers plays a large role in family court-ordered incarcerations.

Child Support Arrears by Mothers and Fathers Mothers Fathers Custodial Parent 82% 18% Custodial Parents Who Have an Order to Receive Child Support 54.9% 30.4% Child Support Orders Received in Full by Each Gender 42% 34.1% Percent of Custodial Parents With Orders to Receive Child Support Who Are Owed Arrears 58% 65.9% Gender Breakdown of Payers with Arrears 12% 88% Average Amount of Child Support Ordered to be Received $5,997 $5,601 Average Child Support Amounts Not Received by Each Gender $2,295 (38% of order) $2,542 (45% of order) Source: www.fathersandfamilies.org/enews/docs/ResearchBrennanIncarcerationGenderBiasFebruary2013.doc.pdf

Source: By Ned Holstein, MD, MS, Founder and Chair of the Board, Fathers and Families



New Mexico Governor Richardson Renigns on Campaign Promise



New Mexico Governor Richardson has apparently reneged on a promise to help the Barreras family recover $15,000 collected by the state as child support from Steve Barreras, for a child that never existed.

At half-past four Thursday morning Barreras climbed a ladder to her perch above I-40 to hang a large banner. Emergency vehicles and crews from three television stations arrived and the roads were closed. E-Mail.



Snippets



79% of parents with access to children paid child support in 1991, while only 56% of those without access paid child support. US Department of Census.

10% of fathers not paying ordered child support are resisting (the "deadbeats"). 66% lack the financial resources. US Government Accounting Office, HRD-92-39 FS.

95% of fathers having no employment problems for the past five years pay regularly; 81 percent pay in full and on time. Judi Bartfeld and Daniel R. Meyer, "Are There Really Deadbeat Dads? The Relationship Between Ability to Pay, Enforcement, and Compliance in Normal Child Support Cases." Social Service Review 68, (1994).

Among non-custodial fathers having experienced any unemployment, one-third paid nothing. [Once you're in over your head, there's no way out. Ed. Judi Bartfeld and Daniel R. Meyer. "Are There Really Deadbeat Dads? The Relationship Between Ability to Pay, Enforcement, and Compliance in Normal Child Support Cases." Social Service Review 68, (1994).

Only four percent of non-custodial parents are able to get a reduction in support payments when their earnings drop by over 15 percent. Elaine Sorensen, "A Little Help for Some Deadbeat' Dads," Washington Post (November 15, 1995). p. A25.

90% of fathers with joint custody pay the ordered child support. 79.1% of fathers with visitation rights pay the ordered child support. 44.5% of fathers with no visitation rights pay the ordered child support. Census Bureau report. Series P-23, No. 173.

In 1990, Lockheed employee and divorced father Bobby Sherrill was captured in Kuwait and spent nearly five months as an Iraqi hostage. The night after his release Mr. Sherrill was arrested for not paying $1,425 in child support while a hostage.

In 1980, Texas high school janitor Clarence Brandley was wrongly accused of murder. He spent nearly 10 years in prison, most of it on death row, until his exoneration in January 1990. In 1991, Mr. Brandley sued the state for wrongful imprisonment. The state handed him a bill for nearly $50,000 in child support that Mr. Brandley had failed to pay while in prison. [The Bradley Amendment [42, U.S.C. 666(a)(9)(c)] says that once a child-support obligation has been established, it cannot be retroactively reduced or waived. If, before your comma, abdication, or imprisonment, you failed to hire a lawyer to request a reduction, you will loose your business license, drivers license, car, food stamps, and even be jailed. For some reason, abandonment has only increased. But we measure child-support compliance, not abandonment.  Ed.]

Lenore Weitzman's 1985 book The Divorce Revolution claimed that women and children average a 73% drop in standard of living after divorce; fathers' increase by 42%. It caused a sensation whose effects are still driving social perceptions and policies. It was wrong. Weitzman refused to provide her data to others until, when she left the Murray Center at Stanford University, Richard Peterson of the Social Science Research Council, New York City, reassessed it. There were many data errors, arithmetic errors, and doubtful methodology. Even following Weitzman's methodology, the data showed only a 28% drop for women, and a 7% increase for men after divorce. Eleven years, many false witch hunts, dozens of oppressive measures, and untold suicides later. [Two articles by Peterson, one by Weitzman, American Sociological Review, 1996, Vol. 61:528-36.] When Dr. Sanford Braver of Arizona State University and a team of economists and psychologists assessed their own data using more accurate equivalency tables, accounting for taxes, and other corrections to method, they found no change in standard of living between men and women after divorce. [Sanford L. Braver and Diane O'Connel, Divorced Dads, Tarcher Putman, 1998, ISBN 0-87477-862-X.] 79.6% of custodial mothers receive a support award.

29.9% of custodial fathers receive a support award.

26.9% of non-custodial fathers totally default on support.

46.9% of non-custodial mothers totally default on support.

Source: Meyer and Garansky, Technical Analysis Paper No. 42, US, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Income Security Policy, 1991.

* * *

Child support is our system for replacing fathers with money. Everyone, including mothers, would be better off if we replaced money with fathers. - KC Author, Where's Daddy? The Mythologies behind Custody-Access-Support.