Bill Limits How Much Child Support Divorced Fathers Must Pay - Wisconsin

saint2e · 2014-01-13T19:11:31+00:00

The bill doesn't speak to a lot of fathers from the economic sense. I'm pretty sure not a lot of fathers are making more than $150k/year. I think mandating a percentage of income, with a floor is something that could be done with Child Care payments.

percentages allow for changes in jobs/careers/hard times, etc.

That being said, the priority for a default 50/50 split in time with the kid that's on the bill is beneficial.

not_just_amwac · 2014-01-13T20:15:32+00:00

One opponent of the bill, Tony Gibart of End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, says making equal parenting time the top priority will make it harder for a judge to assure children are raised in safe environments.

The same damn argument people made against John Howard's Shared Parenting Act in 2006.

bsutansalt · 2014-01-13T19:17:55+00:00

About damn time, although there should be a monthly cap as well. What that might look like would vary from state to state I guess.

twigtts · 2014-01-13T22:58:20+00:00

I absolutely agree with both parts of this bill. The purpose of the income limit is to ensure that it's not just one parent getting paid to be a parent.

The second part is absolutely awesome.

I'm proud of my state. We elected walker, but damn if this doesn't almost make up for that. My city (eau claire) doesn't follow the Duluth model, either.

Peter_Principle_ · 2014-01-13T23:08:45+00:00

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c0mputar · 2014-01-13T23:23:53+00:00

The $150k limit is just to prevent alimony and child support from being mixed up. If someone deserves alimony because they put their life on hold to raise 4 kids and live in San Francisco or something, I get that. However that pay is set can be debated.

But it should never be the case that child support be more than half the living expenses of the child (this incl's cost of an additional room, etc...), unless the secondary parent has relinquished all visitation and custody rights. If you have any visitation, you should not be expected to pay for the full child support costs.

Unfortunately, if you live on minimum wage, or close to it, any child support payment is extremely debilitating. 95% of people simply cannot live in a single-adult household and pay child support. The cost of shelter, taxes, and their own living expenses will barely be covered already. Then asking for even 10% of post-tax income means practically no food or medical, and we're talking as little as $100-150/month.

If you want a child, let alone child support, then you cannot be relying on minimum wage income.

In Canada, child support is about ~10% pre-tax per-child. If you live in Vancouver, BC, for instance, it's not financially possible to pay child support for a single child until you're making over $25k or you are sharing shelter costs with other people.

But that 10% rate remains even in the >>$100k income region as well. Now we're talking alimony range, and no child costs that much, ever.

Alimony is about 15-20% of the gap between incomes.

However, there are additional child support costs that also have to be covered external to the monthly payments like child care, medical expenses, extraordinary educational expenses, post-secondary expenses, and extraordinary extra-curricular activities.

So, if you are married and have a child, you will owe about 25-30% of your pre-tax income due to alimony and child support. Max is 35% of pre-tax income, no matter how many kids, and then add add't child care costs.

Somehow someone has to live on half of what they make, even if they have partial custody. That's assuming the payments are based on what you're actually making, not what you're supposed to be making.

It's no wonder there are so many "deadbeats".

The part that blows my mind is that requiring 12% per child as child support means that if the parents hadn't split, the court is expecting about 24% of their post-tax income to be spent on the child. That includes having the extra bed.

So if a single non-custodial parent makes $25k and owes $250/month to pay for 1 child, that means the court is saying the child is costing $500/month. That's absolutely absurd.

It's clear that child support payments are set to completely pay for the expenses of the child. Where is the logic in that? Why isn't it split 50/50?

saratogacv60 · 2014-01-13T21:49:59+00:00

men who barely scrape by and end up in prison need relief here, not people who make mountains of money. this is the wrong bill, particularly to attach a 50/50 parenting default, something very arguable and rational.

Rattatoskk · 2014-01-14T06:14:50+00:00

I'd really like to see an accounting approach to the problem.

Since one party has to pay child support, diverting funds for the rearing of a child, I think it's only fair that the other party must provide receipts for every nickle of it spent. (legitimate purchases only, like WIC.)

If they can't, then child support should be readjusted.

Practically speaking, there's a cap on how much it costs to raise a happy, well rounded child. Past that amount (And I'm no expert. I don't know the figure based on locality), but past that amount is simple theft. Legal extortion from one capable adult to another for no conceivable reason except that it's tradition.

YetAnotherCommenter · 2014-01-14T08:40:43+00:00

“It really would be a one size fits all solution,” says Gibart. “Judges would have their hands tied and be less likely to consider and account for the dynamics of domestic violence.”

Note the assumptions packaged into "the dynamics of domestic violence" (i.e. the Duluth Model).

Nomenimion · 2014-01-14T04:10:11+00:00

We need to get rid of alimony and child support. They're shit and they always will be.

Title	Bill Limits How Much Child Support Divorced Fathers Must Pay - Wisconsin
Author	blueoak9
Upvotes	150
Comments	34
Date	January 13, 2014 4:56 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1v47s8/bill_limits_how_much_child_support_divorced/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/bill-limits-how-much-child-support-divorced.1004916 https://theredarchive.com/post/1004916

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