My ex took my kids. At first I tried to just work with her to get time with them. About 3 months into that she moved without telling me. I got a lawyer and tracked her down. Once the court proceedings started I hadn't seen my kids for 6 months. I didn't try to contact them either at this point because I was just waiting for the legal process to take it course. Because I had a really shitty lawyer it took 1 year just to see them. So I didn't see them for a 1.5 years.

That was just on a temporary order. I dropped my lawyer and represented myself for the final. Now, I did get some more time with my kids and got my CS reduced a bit. I am happy about that. My shitty lawyer was fighting for the bare minimum standard and I got a fairly bit better than that.

But what pissed me off was that since she had them for 1.5 years she was apparently the parent that took care of the children the most. Really? I wasn't given the chance in the legal system.

To top it off I have to pay back CS, which again doesn't bother me too much(other than that she took the kids and moved), but now they say I need to pay 12% interest on that and can't claim my daughter on my taxes until I get my back child support paid(even though I was awarded that right).

The logic is that the interest and inability to claim the kid is a MOTIVATOR to pay the back CS back. I can somewhat see that logic. But not every parent is a dead beat. There are many reasons they could get behind on CS and once they are in that hole these laws cripple them even further.

Some studies show that many father's feel so helpless they go underground or kill themselves. So in essence the system actually breaks families up and drives away the father. Studies also show that when a father is involved the children are universally more successful. SO there you go, the system is not only broken, but it makes things worse.