Man owes child support, child not his

UGAalum94 · #1 07-12-2007, 05:55 PM

Maybe we're at the point as a society at which part of the child support legal paperwork should require a DNA test.

I don't think men should be required to pay child support for a child who isn't theirs, and in cases where the mother knows the kid isn't his, I think she should have to pay it back and face fraud charges.

(You'd think any women would have the decency figure out definitively who the father is, but I suspect in some cases, she really does think that man paying is the father.)

I do think there's a little danger in courts not assuming that the husband is the father of a wife's baby*, but when there is no marriage or there's a divorce with support ordered, it's worth doing a test.

*You could get into some weird stuff with estates. Would every heir need to prove that he or she was biologically the offspring of a deceased man to receive an inheritance? You'd also have to use a different standard, obviously, for adopted children. The man shouldn't be allowed to shift the financial burden on to the mom if he elected to adopt the kid despite neither of them being biologically related.

Rudey · #2 07-12-2007, 07:13 PM

Personally, I'd shoot the judge if I was him. And then ask the court to make another man spend time in jail instead of me.

-Rudey

SWTXBelle · #3 07-12-2007, 09:43 PM

It doesn't matter - trust me when I say that just because you are ordered to pay child support doesn't mean you will. And when deadbeat dad doesn't? You can pay a lawyer to take him to court - and get a very expensive piece of paper which says he owes it. YIPPEE.
NOT THAT I'M BITTER.

Rudey · #4 07-12-2007, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

It doesn't matter - trust me when I say that just because you are ordered to pay child support doesn't mean you will. And when deadbeat dad doesn't? You can pay a lawyer to take him to court - and get a very expensive piece of paper which says he owes it. YIPPEE.
NOT THAT I'M BITTER.

I thought they arrested them these days?

-Rudey

SWTXBelle · #5 07-12-2007, 09:55 PM

You have to go through so many hoops - my ex is currently in contempt of at least 5 orders, owes me thousands - but it doesn't become a felony in Texas until they hit $10,000. It is - to say the least - frustrating.

PeppyGPhiB · #6 07-13-2007, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

You have to go through so many hoops - my ex is currently in contempt of at least 5 orders, owes me thousands - but it doesn't become a felony in Texas until they hit $10,000. It is - to say the least - frustrating.

Yep, my family is acquainted with this system, as well. You wouldn't believe how much someone can get away with. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, even. There are just so many cases of owed child support out there that the courts can't keep up, nevermind that if the person owing money moves to another state it's nearly impossible for the courts to find and keep on top of them. And family law prosecutors don't make the big bucks, so it's not like it's a job people are dying to do.

As for throwing them in jail, c'mon, our prisons don't have enough room for violent criminals...you expect them to put deadbeat dads away?

SWTXBelle · #7 07-13-2007, 07:28 AM

My sister has it even worse - her ex is out of state, so the state of Texas really can't be bothered.
In my experience, the judge will threaten jail, but then allow the deadbeat to set up a "payment system". Hey, my ex currently has 5 different "payment plans" in place - not that he's paying any of them . . .

OneTimeSBX · #8 07-13-2007, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudey

Personally, I'd shoot the judge if I was him. And then ask the court to make another man spend time in jail instead of me.

-Rudey

lmao! i agree!

and i def do agree charges should be brought up if it can be proven the wife/girlfriend cheated, and hid the fact that she was unsure of the paternity. it is not right to trap a man/lie to the courts and make him pay his hard earned money if she was being a scandalous ho. in his case, even she said it wasnt his. can't quite figure out the judges decision behind that...

i feel it should be left up to the father if its not your child, but you ever see those dads on Maury, that dont care whose child it is, they will raise it anyway? if it isnt his child legally or biologically, allow the man to decide whether to step up and help out or not. of course, there wont be a lot who will, cant say that id blame them...

honeychile · #9 07-13-2007, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaGamUGAAlum

Maybe we're at the point as a society at which part of the child support legal paperwork should require a DNA test.

Sadly, I think you're right. Of course, it will absolutely kill the Montel circuit.

AlphaFrog · #10 07-13-2007, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeychile

Of course, it will absolutely kill the Montel circuit.

I'm not crying over that...anyone else?

OneTimeSBX · #11 07-13-2007, 02:32 PM

oh gosh you are right! there are only so many transvestite and lie detector shows Maury can put on, a majority of them are "im 1000% sure that he is the father. well, except for that train his friends ran on me that weekend...but yeah, im 1000% sure!"

AlphaFrog · #12 07-13-2007, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneTimeSBX

oh gosh you are right! there are only so many transvestite and lie detector shows Maury can put on, a majority of them are "im 1000% sure that he is the father. well, except for that train his friends ran on me that weekend...but yeah, im 1000% sure!"

I remember one episode, the chick HAD BEEN ON MAURY BEFORE claiming to know who the father was, and of course was wrong. So, SHE CAME BACK, and of course this time she was 900% sure that this other guy was the father...and, he was not. Damn.

honeychile · #13 07-13-2007, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I remember one episode, the chick HAD BEEN ON MAURY BEFORE claiming to know who the father was, and of course was wrong. So, SHE CAME BACK, and of course this time she was 900% sure that this other guy was the father...and, he was not. Damn.

I've seen Maury about three times - and I actually saw this one. Or incredibly, there was more than one.

Am I the only one who thinks that, unless a rape is involved, every woman really should know who the father of her child is?

ForeverRoses · #14 07-13-2007, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeychile

Am I the only one who thinks that, unless a rape is involved, every woman really should know who the father of her child is?

Nope, I'm in complete agreement here.

As for not paying child support, at least in Indiana, even if you have a felony arrest warrant out for failure to pay child support, the police will not actively look for the deadbeat. Only if you are arrested or stopped for a traffic violation and it comes up when then they call in the driver's license (or put it in the computer or whatever) will they take you in. My SIL's ex-huband owes her childsupport going back 10 years and even though she knows where he lives, the cops won't go after him. We have joked about going to his house and following him when he leaves in a car so that we could stage a fender-bender. Then when the cops are called, they would pick him up for his felony.

Oh, and child support and visitation are two different things. So you can't deny the non-custodial parent visitation even if they are deliquent on child support without a court order terminating the visitation.

Drolefille · #15 07-13-2007, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I remember one episode, the chick HAD BEEN ON MAURY BEFORE claiming to know who the father was, and of course was wrong. So, SHE CAME BACK, and of course this time she was 900% sure that this other guy was the father...and, he was not. Damn.

LOL that's why they do it all at once now, with the girl bringing in a dozen boyfriends, f*ck-buddies, neighbors, whatever and saying "well I think it could be any one of those, but I'm just too big of a slut to be sure"

And then it's not a single one of them. You have to wonder what her thoughts are at this point. Did I forget someone? That time I passed out at a party and Steve* told me he took me straight home, was he lying? Would that explain the foreign objects in my hoo-ha the next morning?

*name has been changed to protect the slutty