Debtors prison was bad enough but these family courts are like what you would see in Iran. The judge directs the man (typically) to give his money to the mother that is it. No trial, no jury, no rights an the judge has the power to throw you in jail without due process. In many cases the payee is not even the father but has no due process to oppose supporting some woman he had sex with for 21 years.
The current no-fault-divorce -child support system is counter-productive and somewhat immoral. The justification for the Stalin type justice is that ‘the child is entitled to the child support”. Yet, legally the money goes directly to the mother to spend on anything she wants, could be her boyfriends beer. The child has no legal right to the money (that is the flaw) nor does the father have a standing to question the direct use of the money. (He has to prove neglect which is indirect and harder to prove.)
One last complaint, the father has no say in whether his child is aborted but if the mother decides to let the baby live he must pay her. A pregnant woman can suspect that she will not get custody and decide to abort the child to avoid payments to him. The man has all the responsibilities (in most cases), no rights.
This after no-fault was the first step in encouraging women to not get married or break up families.
you forgot to mention things like, the “standard” equation for determining child support is decades old, and calculated on the fact that, at one time, the majority of women were uneducated and largely unemployable. in today’s world, women make every bit as much as men do, yet win a mini lottery in child support.
Or that child support is not taken into account when defining welfare benefits or vice versa.
Or that while the father is forced to work to pay the support, the mother isn’t.
Or that usually the father has to pay taxes on the money he pays in child support, while the mother turns around and claims the tax deduction for the child.
Or that the government reaps not only control of the father’s life, but monetarily a percentage, or at least a fee, for administrating the payment.
I’m not saying that a father should not have to pay for his child, but i do think that a: it should not be court ordered. b: it should be reasonable and c: there should be accountability from the mother. she should show the father why she needs the money and where its spent. I’m sick of these women that treat child support as an entitlement, or as earned income. No, child support should not be spent on big screen tvs, iphones, satellite tv, vehicle payments, vacations, new shoes, manicures.. it should be spent on the child.
Sorry lady, you walked away from the guy, you lost your right to his money.