Digging out of a child support hole -- With back payments adding up, some say system needs change

The first time Endel Williams went to prison, at age 19, his daughter was 3 months old. One month later, his second daughter was born.

Even though he was incarcerated on drug-related charges, he was still responsible for child support. It kept adding up.

“The max for me was about $50,000,” said Endel, now 38 and a City of Racine worker. “It’s overwhelming.”

In Racine County, as of Feb. 28, there were 14,552 cases where parents owed payments for overdue child support, called arrears, according to the state Department of Children and Families. The average amount owed is $13,512.50, and accrues 12 percent interest each year it goes unpaid. That amount is in addition to any current support orders a parent may have.

The governor’s proposed budget cuts that interest rate, which could

help make paying child support less overwhelming and increase the likelihood people will pay, but some say the system is crying out for more change. When noncustodial parents carry heavy arrears, the debt can be an overwhelming obligation that leads them to give up, leaving the child and custodial parent with little to nothing.

Read the rest at: http://journaltimes.com/news/local/digging-out-of-a-child-support-hole---/article_11b8bfbc-99b9-11e2-9593-0019bb2963f4.html

Fathers deserve equal chance at child custody in divorce

In this day and age, you would believe that fathers would have an equal shot at child custody in instances of divorce. Unfortunately, that is not always the case, and in many instances is far from the truth.

Statistics show that in between 70 percent and 90 percent of divorces involving children, the mother is awarded custody, with visitation rights awarded to the father. If that wasn’t enough, fathers are assigned child support that, lacking research and real world facts, either they have trouble paying and/or pay at the expense of a standard living and ability to prepare for the future (including his children’s futures). All of this under the umbrella of “the best interests of the child.”

Read the rest at: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letters-to-the-editor/fathers-deserve-equal-chance-at-child-custody-in-divorce/article_568348fb-1a68-519a-8d5e-8af5bbd6f5c2.html

Jailed for Nonpayment of Child Support; But its Not His Child Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/jailed-for-nonpayment-of-child-support-but-its-not-his-child-92576/#KEifDjMZWxVfir54.99

The feminists have ratcheted up the laws against men to such an outrageous level that paternity fraud is not just ignored, but routinely rubber stamped by the courts. Whether one agrees with the concept of child support or not, virtually everyone can agree that jailing men for child support over children who are not theirs is morally wrong. Men are routinely sent to jail for falling behind on paying child support, even though debtors' prisons in the U.S. were mostly eliminated in the mid-nineteenth century.

The family courts and laws are set up in such a way that makes it very easy for a mother to collect child support, and very difficult for a man to avoid it. If a couple was married, the default law is that the man will be required to pay child support for any child born while they were married. In order for a man who isn't the father to escape this outcome, he must obtain a paternity test and take a series of legal steps in court. Most states only allow a short window of time for a man to do this. If a man is not aware of the child, which he may not be if his wife or former wife doesn't notify him of the child right away, he loses all chance to fight the child support, and will be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars for the next 18 years until the child becomes an adult.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/jailed-for-nonpayment-of-child-support-but-its-not-his-child-92576/#KEifDjMZWxVfir54.99 

Child Support

Are you facing a divorce and want to know how much child support you will have to pay? Has your ex just served you with court papers to raise your child or spousal support? Have you been contacted by the District Attorney or other support agency who wants to establish a child support order? Or maybe you just want information on how you can lower your current child or spousal support order! Are you aware of the simple steps you can take to lower your child support?

Child support and spousal support are calculated using a Federal guideline implemented by every state.   This is the same formula that the Courts, Judges, District Attorney’s, private attorney’s and other family law legal specialist use to calculate support.

Read the rest at: http://fathersrightsinc.com/ch-supt.htm

How To Keep Divorce From Having Long Lasting Effects on Children

Yearly more than 1 million children experience the divorce of their parents. The process and trauma these children experience will normally begin long before there is an actual divorce. It will begin with parental disagreements, anger and continue to worsen throughout the divorce process and can often last for many years after the divorce is final.

You can’t take your child’s discomfort away but there are things you can do that will lessen the long lasting effects your divorce will have.

Read the rest at: http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/childrenanddivorce/ht/effectsonchild.htm

As A Father What Are My Rights And Responsibilities During And After Divorce?

 As A Father What Are My Rights And Responsibilities During And After Divorce?

As a father, you have certain rights and responsibilities with respect to your children. You do not need a court order to obtain your rights as a father. You already have them. They are guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the laws of your state. Until and unless a court rules otherwise, your rights as a father and as a parent include the right to:

• Be an influence in your children’s lives, be involved, interact, and spend time with them;
• Love and nurture your children without harassment from the other parent;
• Decide where your children will live;
• Participate in the parenting of your children;
• See the school and medical records of your children;
• Attend and participate in your children’s extra-curricular activities

Read the rest at: http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/childrenanddivorce/f/fathersrights.htm

The Child Custody Rights for Men

There are no federal or state laws that specifically protect the child custody rights of men. Although state laws technically do not give preferential treatment to women, they are often favored over fathers in child custody cases. Family courts make custody decisions based on the best interests of the children in the case and not necessarily the wishes of the parents. Custody arrangements include joint physical and legal custody, sole physical and legal custody and visitation agreements. A father's rights may not be terminated unless it is proven in a court of law that he is a detriment to his child, including any instances of child abuse, neglect or threat to the child's welfare. Fathers who are involved in child custody cases can protect themselves by retaining the services of an attorney or placing their names on a putative fathers registry, a place where they can legally claim paternity of the children and receive protection from adoptions.

Read more: The Child Custody Rights for Men | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6706569_child-custody-rights-men.html#ixzz2P5AiFQXm

Father Visitation Rights

Visitation rights are a myth. Neither parent is inherently entitled to visitation rights when going through a divorce. You only have visitation rights when they have been established by the court or determined in a parenting plan that is created by both parents and acknowledged in court.n your divorce proceedings, it is important to be aware that visitation and custody are two separate matters (seeChild Custody for Fathers). Legal custody grants you the ability to direct how your child is raised. This includes things such as the religion, education and healthcare of your child. Physical custody allows your child to live with you. Visitation, on the other hand, tends to define how your time with your kids is spent. A qualified divorce attorney with experience handling custody and visitation issues should be able to more thoroughly explain the differences between custody and visitation and advise you on your best course of action.


Read the rest at: http://www.just4dads.org/legal-visitation.html

Father’s Rights

Gone are the days of the “stay at home mother” that always gets custody of the children.  Fathers have and deserve the same rights as mothers do when it comes for caring for a child.  In today’s modern world, both parents work to support their families, and in some instances, the stay at home parent is the father, not the mother.  This is a significant change in the family dynamic and, unfortunately, the laws have not been able to keep up with the times.Speaking with an expert father’s rights attorney for a100% free case evaluation is easy and necessary to establish the rights to your children that you and your family deserve!


Read the rest at: http://www.familylawrights.net/fathers-rights/?gclid=CMjY0d74pbYCFa1xQgodI2IAOA

More Fathers are Winning Custody of their Children in the Family Courts

According to a report from the US Census Bureau, the right for child custody is no longer vested with mothers. With the rise in the number of marriages culminating in divorce, there has been a significant increase in the number of single fathers. Currently there are around 2.3 million single fathers in the US. The percentage of fathers to whom sole custody of the child has been awarded has increased by 15 percent compared to 1995. Today, more fathers are ready to take on the responsibility of their children when faced with a divorce and more fathers are winning custody of their children in the family courts. 

Some child custody experts believe since children may prefer to be with their father or wish to live with their father, more fathers are getting custody or are being awarded custody. While fighting a legal custody battle over the custody issue is rare, in many child custody cases, fathers are taking on the responsibility of their children by stipulation or upon mutual agreement. There are situations where the father is indeed proving to be the better parent while providing the more stable and secure environment for the children. Sometimes, mothers are not interested in taking on the responsibility of their children and would prefer to pursue their career. Even in such situations, more fathers are getting custody and the courts are awarding custody of the children to the father. 

Read the rest at: http://www.childcustodyfathers.com/

Elizabeth Johnson Sentenced to Five Years, Refuses to Reveal Child’s Location

Elizabeth Johnson was back in court one last time last Friday.  Here’s the latest (New York Daily News, 12/8/12).  She’s the Arizona mother who, when faced with the demands by their son’s father for custody of the boy, went on the lam to Texas and ultimately Florida.  Their son Gabriel has never been seen since.  Johnson told the father, Logan McQueary, that she had murdered the boy, stuffed his body in a plastic garbage bag and tossed it in a dumpster.  That supposedly occurred in San Antonio, but belated searches of local landfills by police turned up no body.

Captured in Florida and faced with criminal charges, Johnson hastened to claim that Gabriel was still alive, that she’d given him to a couple in a park in San Antonio and had no idea of where or who they were.  Johnson spent three years in jail awaiting trial at which she was convicted of custodial interference, among other things.  The maximum sentence would have been 9 1/2 years, but the judge sentenced her to only 5 1/4 years with four years probation when she gets out.  With credit for time served, Johnson will be out in at most 2 1/4 years.

Read the rest at://www.fathersandfamilies.org/2012/12/10/elizabeth-johnson-sentenced-to-five-years-refuses-to-reveal-childs-location/

Father says he's still paying child support for 3-year-old son who died 25 years ago Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/father-says-hes-still-paying-child-support-for-3-year-old-son-who-died-25-years-ago#

Lional Campbell's son, Michael, passed away at the age of three from acute meningitis.

"It took a lot out of me," says Campbell who is from Detroit and now lives in Kentucky. And it's that distance that is making it even more difficult for Campbell to wage a fight with the Wayne County Friend of the Court over child support that Campbell says he is still paying for Michael.

A spokesperson for the Friend of the Court says no one ever notified them of the boy's death until Campbell began asking why he still owed child support in 2011 for a child that was deceased by the age of 3.

Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/father-says-hes-still-paying-child-support-for-3-year-old-son-who-died-25-years-ago#ixzz2P51ZZYop

Denying Fathers Rights To Visitation

Fathers Rights Question: My wife and I are currently separated, but the divorce has not been finalized, and she is denying my visitation rights to my children. We have no child custody agreement and no child support agreement, however I have been paying her money for the past year. This past month I didn't have money to pay her so she has denied me from seeing my kids until I pay her. Since there is no court order in place regarding child support or my visitation rights as a father, what are my options to see my children?

Read the rest at: http://www.mensrights.com/index.php/articles/denying-fathers-rights-to-visitation.html