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It is a fundamental consideration in setting child support amounts properly, that the amounts are based on what parents are able to provide. When circumstances change, such as loss of employment, timely adjustments need to be made to the amounts they are ordered to pay, so that uncollectable debts don't pile up – as they do now – giving the impression that more collection agents are needed. Custodial parents need to adjust their budgets and spending habits just like married couples and single adults would under similar circumstances. Just because a mother is divorced, doesn't guarantee a particular standard of living.

It won't happen..............it is very rare the systems will adjust payments down when the support paying parent has a change in financial status.

I have no dog in this fight, I have just watched it happen to many people that I know.

It won't happen..............it is very rare the systems will adjust payments down when the support paying parent has a change in financial status.

I know it's not being done. The point is that it should be. Sweden tried the US style reforms, and eventualy abandoned them because it overwhelmed their state collection system, and they didn't see good reason for it. The "backlash" from the experience is that Sweden now has presumptive joint custody and is revamping its welfare and what is effectively the equivalent of dependent tax credits so that everything is shared between mothers and fathers. Sweden Backs Off U.S.-Style Child Support Reforms: Government Investigation Reveals Fundamental Flaws

There generally are not a lot of timely adjustments either upward or downward.

I work for Child Support Enforcement, and I see a lot of cases where the noncustodial parents are still paying the amount ordered by the court 10, 12, 15 years ago. In fact, I advise noncustodial parents that, if they keep paying regularly, it is far more likely than not that they will not see an increase in their child support obligation. Nonpayers get priority over custodial parents seeking an increase. But if they stop paying, we will reset the child support based upon their current income. Which can be lower, but is usually higher.

I'd like to put my two cents into this issue. I make my last child support payment, May 1st. I've been divorced almost 18 years. In California, the system is so screwed up you can't believe it. Neither of my kids spends more than 2-3 nights per month at Mommy dearests home. Yet, because of income disparity, I've had to pay her. She remarried and chose not to work outside of the home for the past 10 years. Yet, if I go back to Court and they look at her imputed income versus my real income, the judges get p.o.'d at me. Now that the kids are in college, have car issues etc. I pay that in addition to child-support payments for someone to sit home on their lazy butt all day. You're right, the system is broken. Keep in mind, the large payments that are ordered here in California is due to the fact California is awarded federal bucks based on how much child support is collected. I'm done venting now, thank you for reading.

It won't happen..............it is very rare the systems will adjust payments down when the support paying parent has a change in financial status.

I live in Wake County. I have a friend whose two daughters are supposed to stay with their Mother. Both, sickened by her lifestyle, moved back in with Dad. Dad is still sending the support checks to Mom, it's easier.

When she did have them, when it was time for them to have visitation with him, she'd would literally send them over with rags for clothes, he'd buy new wardrobes, she'd pocket the cash. When the girls would return, she call their father the fool.

Different Family - We went to a wedding today. A co-worker of my wife married her second husband. His first wife left him to find herself and moved in with a lesbian. When she heard that he had found a new wife to marry, she decided to inform the kids that she and her les lover would start sharing a bed. The kids were understandably upset, ruining whatever joy they would have had today. They are 4, 7, and 11. The 11 year old asked his Mom if she and the les would be 'doing it'. She told him, 'of course, that's what people in love do'.

Men are not blameless in broken families, but women seem to really know how to twist the knife.