So I had my child support hearing today. First, they took us into a side room with a legal assistant to get our general information and to plug our numbers into the state guidelines sheet. It came back stating that she owed me $-2.27 so the state suggestion is that she doesn’t owe me anything. Seriously. Basically the guideline sheet takes my income, combines her income and then says I’m responsible as the responsible parent for the first 72% and her the last 28%. Sure sounds right, I’m the custodial so I end up paying most of it. I see that. But it doesn’t take into account anything extra. Like school fees (lunch money & book fees), doesn’t take into account that I pay close to $60 a week for insurance. Doesn’t take into account that I paid for Girls Scouts and little league. Doesn’t really take anything into account. I have them 5 days, she has them 2. But our share is equal because I make more money and actually keep my job. Even though I pay so much for insurance, I’m still responsible for the first $600 out of pocket. Seriously? And after the first $600 she’s still only responsible for 50% of it. How the hell is that fair?
We all know if the shoe was on the other foot and she had custody, I’d be paying out the ass on top of still paying the insurance. I wouldn’t take home enough money for my family to survive. So even though I beat the odds and as a father, I have custody. The odds are still stacked against you, as long as your not the mother.
In front of the judge, I pleaded my case and was awarded a little bit of support, just over enough to pay the kids lunch money each week. Yeah, that’s it. What’s worse, we all know that eventually even that will stop because she can’t keep a job longer than a few months.
This system blows!
Damn, that's horrible. Unfortunately, I understand where your coming from too. When I had child number two, her father left work (yep, you know who), got married and transferred everything into his new wife's name. When we went to court I was told "you can't squeeze blood from a turnip." I had to eat ALL expenses. Thankfully, he applied for SS and I get something, but it never ceases to amaze me how the system penalizes the working, caregiver parent.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to work for the deadbeat parent. You'd think they'd want to support the parent who is actively avoiding taking money from the government, but that's not the way it works. I'm glad you were able to get something though.