I just represented a father who was being sued by his ex for the college costs for their three sons. He was a respectable (slightly arrogant) business professor who had managed to accumulate millions of dollars on a college professor's salary by simply being frugal. (She waived alimony because she walked away with a nice house free and clear and nearly a million in cash). He had no problem promptly paying for his children's tuition, room and board, and college related expenses. What he did have a problem paying for was any frivolous spending by the three kids such as magazines, late fees, withdrawal penalties, etc...He was of the opinion that the kids should have a part time job and help defray some of the minor expenses.
To make a long story short, we got hammered by a judge who promptly decided that, pursuant to the socialist based child support guidelines in New Jersey, that he should not only pay these minor items, but give each kid an additional $ 2,000.00 a year so they wouldn't have to work. The father was honestly just trying to instill some values like hard work, frugality, and personal responsibility and the judge turns around and reinforces the exact opposite behavior.
I left the court room bewildered. I hadn't lost like that in a long time. The court is right by Washington's Headquarters in Northern New Jersey. Outside the court room are portraits of some of the founding fathers and revolutionary war heroes like Nathaniel Greene. I remember thinking to myself, if only these guys had known.
People know where these judges live. Eventually a guy that gets "hammered" this way in court is gonna say, "y'know, at this point, it's mano e mano."
It may have already happened a few times for all I know. There's a reason they have metal detectors in court houses. And not the toy ones in airports. These are the prison grade variety...
>>I remember thinking to myself, if only these guys had known<<
They did know.
That's why they had automatic father custody, and a male-only franchise.