Child Support
Reading all the arguments revolving around child contact and custody there are a few common threads:
Protective parents, worried about abuse due to a history of domestic violence or disclosures by the children, do not raise the issue of child support.
So many of the arguments that from the 'men's rights' groups say that women make these 'false allegations' regarding abuse etc because they want child support and extra marital property. These arguments do not stand up to scrutiny because in many of these cases there is no child support of any signigicance payable, no marital assets to divide and rarely if ever in cases where contact and custody is an issue, is matrimonial property part of the proceedings.
Many, who have the safety of children as a primary concern write that abusive fathers apply for custody, and in a majority of cases win that custody, especially if the mother alleges abuse, because they do not wish to pay for 'property' ie the children, that is not in their possesion - or to put it simply refuse to pay "the bitch" anything.
Judgments where property is an issue often have child custody and contact as a peripheral, but safety concerns are not raised - it is more a matter of the parties cannot agree for whatever reasons.
Devious fathers dodging child payments
A GROWING number of separated parents are using complex financial
arrangements to misrepresent their incomes in an effort to minimise their
child support payments, the Federal Government's Child Support Agency says.
In the 10 months to May 22, investigators from the agency's minimisation
program identified 4186 parents mainly fathers who were not paying the
right amount of child support because their incomes had not been calculated
correctly.
NZ surrogate mum ordered to help pay for child's upkeep
The Federal Government is demanding a surrogate mother from New
Zealand pay child support for the baby she had for two gay Queensland
men.
The woman gave birth to the baby girl a year ago and is refusing to
pay for the child's upkeep, New Zealand's Sunday Star Times reported.
The baby is being raised by her biological father and his male
partner, who have gained child support benefits for the father to stay
home and care for her. The couple are the child's legal guardians.
Contact and CSA
From 7th January 2008: non-resident parents will be given a 24% reduction of their proportion of the calculated costs of children (under the new formula) if they have 14%+ care of their children – this equates to one night per week. So we are expecting a steep increase in fathers seeking contact and we are aware of this beginning to happen – purely based on their desire to reduce their child support liability.
More divorced dads caring for kids
Divorced dads are increasingly becoming the primary carers of their children: in the first six months of this year, the number of fathers receiving child support payments from their former wives has doubled.Child Support Agency assistant general manager David Mole said new agency figures revealed separated fathers now played a much greater role in the lives of their children.More than 21 per cent of cases registered with the agency in the first six months of this year had a male receiving child support, double the rate across the total of all CSA cases. Increasingly, parents paying child support also have more contact with their children.
Dividend For Divorced Men
DIVORCE is the best way for a man to improve his financial standing, say researchers. Separated women, especially mothers, usually end up much worse off after a split. But a European study shows that men who leave their wives are four times more likely to become richer than those who remain married. Even fathers fare better because the true cost of bringing up children usually tops what they may have to pay in maintenance contributions.
Child support: pay up or lose welfare
PARENTS who fail to make child support payments will have the amount docked
from government benefits as part of tough new compliance rules.
From July 1 all parents paying or receiving child support will have their
payments adjusted according to a formula based on the cost of raising
children.
OTHER SUBJECT HEADINGS:
Fatherlessness
Unacceptable Risk
Shared Parenting
Child Support
Child Development
Contravention