Here’s my horror story with child support. Married for 19 years, 3 children. Wife divorced me over another man, no big deal there, stuff happens. Oldest child was 18 already at divorce so not a factor, next a 16 year old son, who lived with me most of the time, but I had to pay the ex anyway, so said the judge. Daughter was 14 at the time, lived with the ex, so I paid the percentage of income that the judge said to. No problem with that either. But....in four years time, my ex kept taking me back to court to have child support increased for the daughter, meanwhile I’m paying for college for the other two and I keep getting squeezed more and more. The judges are women, the attornies are women, Florida Child Support will pay the legal fees of the custodial parent for a $25 fee. Basically they can keep hounding you, you have to pay your own attorney fees and the system is rigged against you.
Finally with 6 months left before my daughter was to turn 18 and I was looking forward to some financial breathing room, my ex takes me back to court again for another increase, the judge grants it AND makes it retroactive for the prior two years. THEN, since it’s retroactive, Florida Child Support Enforcement steps in and says you are in “arrears”, even though it just happened on that day. All of a sudden, in the eyes of Florida, you are a “deadbeat dad”. Then it goes on your credit report.........and on and on.
Please don’t think this is meant as an anti woman thing...that is not my point....the system is really screwy. This is ancient history to me now, my kids are nearing 30, but am I still bitter about the system? Yes, indeed.
“Florida Child Support will pay the legal fees of the custodial parent for a $25 fee.”
That’s a good point. Every state I believe has a child support collections unit that will collect support for women for little or no fee. They really don’t have to pay anything up front except maybe sometimes a $25 fee. These government child support agencies have enormous power. They can really make life hell for people, and they screw up all the time and no one punishes them for it. I know, I worked as an attorney for one for a while. I was the prosecuting these cases, both in civil and criminal court.
My 15 year-old daughter refuses to go back and live with her mother. I thought I’d still have to make “ransom payments” anyway and have been doing so. Last Friday I got a letter from Child Support Enforcement and called them back immediately. They told me that as long as the child is living with me they will not bring any enforcement or collection action against me. I was surprised to learn that. I have sent them (via fax) a letter outlining the situation as well as what supporting documentation I could from my daughter’s school acknowledging that she’s living with me, bank statements showing the payments up to date and the fact that my daughter filed an abuse complaint against her mother with Childrens’ Services on August 28th. I am hopeful that will bring me a freedom which I haven’t had in 15 years. I think that it will mean that the mother’s only option would be to try to hire an attorney to try to force a 15 year-old to live where she doesn’t want to. Even if she had the money to do so, I’ve been told she wouldn’t have much luck with that.
That's not just Florida, it is the law of the land. You're referring to Social Security IV-D cases. Its a gift from Bill Clinton. Any woman no matter how much money she has or earns can apply for FREE legal aid for any CS matters. There is no means test involved. She just has to have at custody of one minor child and cough up that $25 as an application fee. Meanwhile Dad has to pay for his attorney IF he can afford one. And feminists call this "equality."