deadeyexx wrote:
ikorack wrote:
deadeyexx wrote:
Be thankful for DNA tests and child support laws. Now accusations can be proven and the guy recklessly spreading his seed will be hounded for the rest of his life.
Eh, some states presume the husband is the father regardless of genetic ties, other states assume the father listed on the birth is the father and if he doesn't go to court to prove otherwise within a certain time period he is liable for CS regardless of genetic ties.
In these cases the genetic father isn't always liable for child support. This claim of your's isn't universal, I don't even know if it's safe to say it exists at all.
You're right actually. Like any government agency, the child support office is more concerned with money than justice. As long as they have a man who can be legally forced to pay child support, they don't care if he's the one who deserves to.
I knew a woman who was seperated from her husband and got pregnant by another man. Under Ohio law, the husband's name would be automatically put on the birth certificate. In addition, it wasn't legal to get a divorice during the pregnancy. In addition to that, even if the husband proved the baby wasn't his, it would be a legal nightmare to get his name removed from the birth certificate without without another man's name replacing it. Such a costly nightmare that paying the support wouldn't seem so bad. In this case, the biological father could walk free.
However, if there is no father's name on the birth certificate, the government will work hard to change that. I'll bet most of these 11 women wern't married if he was PROVEN to have 21 kids.
The laws do vary from place to place. Generally speaking, the husband of the mother is established as the legal father without any need for paternity testing unless the mother specifically instructs the hospital to exclude her husband from the paperwork. When a mother is unmarried, the man claiming to be the father can sign the paternity paperwork in the hospital to place himself on the birth certificate without paternity testing.
Outside the hospital, there will be need to establish paternity, which requires a petition and all associated filing costs. The mother can dispute the petition of the father to register his paternity of the child, but then a paternity test (dna) will be ordered. Likewise, a father can also dispute a petition to establish paternity and it will be resolved with an order for a paternity test. Both parents can agree on paternity without the need for a medical test. As you can see, it is very easy for a man to be the legal father of a child without being the biological father. I suppose this is why Maury Povich has so many shows on the topic.
Many US States do have Child Support Enforcement offices. These offices and the child support laws vary considerably from state to state. I am very frustrated by how Illinois handles my ex-husband but since I live in Florida, there is little that I can do without hiring an Illinois attorney and, honestly, spending more money than what my ex owes in support. Irony. Florida really attacks non-custodial parents for child support arrears. In fact, Florida is one of five states that can and will imprison a NCP for child support non-payment without allowing that individual an attorney before being held in custody.* Depending on what state your child support case is in, the laws that govern you could fluctuate significantly. In many states, the CSE does also provide Paternity Establishment and NCP Location services, as well as establishing and/or enforcing child support orders.
Of course, states also vary wildly in regard to visitation. In most states, Visitation Orders are regarded as civil orders that, while serious, shouldn't consider jail time unless an actual crime in committed (eg. kidnapping, etc.) while the visitation order is being violated. The worst that happens to a parent who violates a Visitation Order is typically a Residential Parent or Custodial Parent switch. A child has what's called a Bill of Rights, which entitles them to live with a certain degree with security and peace, demanding that both parents behave in a mature and cooperative way. When the court has sufficient proof that one parent is violating court orders and denying the child their Bill of Rights, it may be ordered to switch custody to the parent who is cooperative. There are states who do have laws establishing a willful refusal to provide visitation as a crime. In these states, the uncooperative parent can be arrested and imprisoned for the same offense. In fact, in Illinois, two teenage daughters were imprisoned for refusing to see their father. Oddly, there has not been a case on the books anywhere in Illinois for a non-custodial father to be imprisoned for not meeting his visitation obligations. I tell my exes that visitation isn't about the adults, it is the time the children are entitled to receive from their parents and what's written in the order is the base minimum obligation.
I brought up visitation because it's important to mention in the flurry of flabbergast over this unverifiable man in his unverifiable situation, that there is more to consider than what he pays in child support. Typical inclusions beyond basic child support and visitation also include life insurance, health insurance, uncovered medical costs, extra-curricular activities, school activities, and college tuition with living expenses.
Mind you, I think that the article the OP linked to is BS, the conclusions the OP made based on the article are BS and much of the crap people have said in comments about parents who have lots of kids is BS. It sounds like more
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. But what do I know? I have 4 kids with 3 baby daddies. I could explain how I got there but, honestly, any one who feels entitled to an explanation for my life really does not deserve one. I can tell you that what I've said here has little to do with my personal experience, other than where I have divulged the information, and relies more on my education and professional experience. So take it for what it's worth, which has been between $12/hr and $40K/yr throughout the years.
* It is typical that when an individual who receives child support registers to receive Cash Assistance from the State, the State will hold the child support money. This is a bizarre compensation but this is part of receiving Cash Assistance that has remained unquestioned for decades. In Florida and four other states (I'll have to look up which ones and I'm being lazy right now) if a mother receives Cash Assistance and, as a result, surrenders for child support for the time she receives that assistance, the father will be taken into custody for any child support arrears he may have. This will happen every single month until he is current on the support, regardless of any existing agreement to pay back arrears in increments. Unless he hires an attorney to do quick footwork in between incidents to stop him from being arrested, it will happen every time the mother receives her monthly Cash Assistance.
07 Apr 2011, 6:16 pm
