Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
In my line of work I deal with split families frequently and the subject of child custody is a regular occurrence, furthermore I deal with Alberta Enforcement Services in Edmonton regularly.
Do Dads get screwed? Yes. By a wide, wide margin. And whats worse is that, not only is this acknowledged by Enforcement, its become Policy.
I had a client who was paying an absolutely OBSCENE amount of support. And you know what? His daughter wasn't enrolled in anything, her mother refused to enroll her in anything that she wanted to be in, no sports, no art classes, hell, she REFUSED to sign her kid up for SWIMMING lessons. Why? Because it cost too much.
Bull, this guy was paying out more in support than I make in a year. He ended up putting his daughter through programs that she wanted to take on his own dime AFTER support payments. He even said he had no problems with paying the support if it actually went to his daughter. He would have rather made out cheques to her rather than her mother. Perhaps some form of trustee system is needed for extreme cases such as this.
But people have to realize something: Seriously, sometimes the Woman is wrong. You want to talk equality, then here it is: both people in a relationship have equal opportunity and likelihood of being complete Scum, the Woman isnt a total saint 100% of the time just because shes the one who squirted the kid out.
Thats all I'll say on the matter, I've dealt with it from both sides, and broad sweeping generalizations shouldnt be made based on stats like: "76.97% of the time the Father is a deadbeat!!!1! OMZG!!! Kill them with FIRE!!!"
Everything should be evaluated on a case by case basis on its own merits, and it isnt, screwing the Father is essentially Policy simply because he didnt deliver via Vaginal Canal.
|
I'm so proud that the support payments that I give to your mom went towards your education junior . . . damn proud.
Bow shadup and get daddy a beer.
On a more serious note, I really like the idea of a trustee arrangement to make sure that the money is going to help out the child in terms of life style essentials, education and general well being.
I know that friends of mine who are paying support get frustrated over what the mother is spending the money on. I also think that the reasons why the seperation or divorce happening have nothing to do with the child and should have nothing to do with the decision for child support amounts, however I do think that the custody decision machine is badly broken and is something that probably needs to be revamped.
I've seen too many instances where custody is awarded to the mother and the type of mother that she is doesn't come into play in the decision.
Like Uhura said on Robot Chicken "Ummm I have a vagina"