[frodolives]

Nice work. I've been doing child support all my 18 years of practice. What do you recommend instead- go back to the old days and pick a number out of thin air, like we used to?

Do you suggest that each divorcing family would have to show their actual expenditure on the kids, and Mom or Dad pays no more than they ever did during marriage? That is probably the CAUSE of their divorce- inappropriate direction of resources. (Mom must go to the tanning salon even if there's no milk in the fridge- and yes, I had that case. He got the little ones)

My most frustrating moments as a DAG were caused by welfare queens who complained unceasingly that "we weren't collecting!!!!" and then tell us Daddy was living under a bridge.

I expect you are right on that beefing up the "Collections" by getting inappropriate default orders is the leading source of the "deadbeat Dad" nonsense. What does the guy under the bridge care if he's charged $150 or $650 per month? He ain't payin' nohow.

[RogerFGay]

My most frustrating moments as a DAG were caused by welfare queens who complained unceasingly that "we weren't collecting!!!!" and then tell us Daddy was living under a bridge.

The age-old money doesn't grow on trees battle. But nowadays the government promises them that if they divorce or don't marry in the first place, they'll send the police out to force him to tell where he's hiding the tree. There are plenty of retired enforcers who have been telling of their experiences prosecuting guys they found living under bridges. I remember when CSE first reported with pride how they caught their first great batch of men when they were picking up food stamps. They delivered another big batch of threatening notices to men in jail, including men on death row.

Nice work. I've been doing child support all my 18 years of practice. What do you recommend instead- go back to the old days and pick a number out of thin air, like we used to? The solution will be the subject of another article soon. I've wrote an article called The Child Support Guideline Problem in 1998 (with Gregory Palumbo) that was initially entitled "The Solution to the Child Support Guideline Problem," but my reviewers thought "The Solution ..." made it sound like too much. Back in those days everybody thought it impossible to solve the guideline problem (I point that out in the article of this thread). But I think for my next article, I'm going to ignore everybody who thinks I shouldn't call my solution a solution and entitle the article "The Solution ..." anyway. Not that it's going to solve the poverty problem, satisfy all women everywhere, or keep men from going bald, but it will be the right answer for dealing with child support orders.

[realwoman]

Nope, we do one of two things. One, the parent better able to support the children gets custody. Two, since the feminazis want equality (meaning all the power) then let women fend for themselves instead of living off the backs of men.

[Orangedog]

Has anyone ever considered filing a class action lawsuit against the people in the private sector who divised these abitrary systems and then lobbied to have them made into law so they could reap financial gain? Even the ones outside of government who didn't make money from it are at least (aguably) partially negligent in the arbitrary fleecing of fathers across the country.

Could a class action be filed against the commissions who presented these guidelines to the legislatures? I'd really like to see some of these low-lifes pay for the lives that they have helped ruin.

[John O]

Do you suggest that each divorcing family would have to show their actual expenditure on the kids, and Mom or Dad pays no more than they ever did during marriage?

I'd agree to this. Of course the real solution is to fix marriage.

God Save America (Please)