Someone I read is having trouble with a deadbeat dad, not having received child support in like ten years. Unfortunately, she doesn't live in the enlightened Republic of Massachusetts, where we hunt down dead beats like the scum they are and publicly humiliate them while shaking every dime we can out of them.
Including grabbing their unemployment checks, professional licenses, and driver's license.
Usually I'm a libertarian, but I have no patience for folks - whether they be male or female - who run away from their parental responsibilities. The push on child support enforcement in Massachusetts came in the mid-90's, during debates on Welfare Reform, as it was clearly apparent that many of the welfare cases we saw were because of scumbag dads that ran out on their babymommas.
My favorite aspect of our CSE system is the yearly public humiliation campaign we undertake, producing a ten-most wanted poster of the more odious suspects. The picture above should take you to the actual poster, should you click on it. The figures these folks owe are astounding. Of course, I have no idea how the hell I'd pay some of these orders - Joe Chodat and his $768 a week... Jeez, I hope the dot-com bomb didn't clean him out... Yikes.
But this all comes down to responsibility. Even us libertarians believe "you do the crime, you do the time", and, more importantly, why should the rest of us have to pay because you bailed out on your kids?
And, you know, there is the old joke: "Why does divorce cost so much? Because it's worth it.." Freedom comes with a price, man. Pay up.
3 comments:
I wish they'd add David Bradshaw to that list! The man has the conscience of a plague-carrying rat!
Bottom line; if you are a hard-working, honest, "above-board" (e.g. fully declared income) worker who earns a good salary, then you get completely hammered by this state.
Anyone paying is a "deadbeat" by default by the DOR (leg-breakers of the court).
Everyone forgets to mention the obscenely high child support awards in the state. Is this possible a reason why many try to escape? How many simply "cannot afford it" to pay the amounts.
Equal-protection is non-existant in the courts with respect to child support and "standard of living".
The self-proclaimed "correct" guidelines (unless you can prove otherwise, beyond any shadow of a doubt) punish honest, hard working people and do not enable fathers to do meaningful things with their children.
Is it any wonder why divorce rates are so high? Why keep him around when you can just milk him of all of his money. Just get a 209A, get him out of the house, and milk him for child support ('till they are 23 if they go to college). While you are at it, ask for alimony too. Why not, you i/ deserve it /i
Most of these guys are "small timers".
Do you know how much some guys get "taken for" in this state?
There is no escape, so most of us just pay, and live with the "deadbeat" label.
I was out on disability a couple of years ago, there was a short delay in getting disability checks (medical record issue) and the DOR seized my checking account. Funny thing was that the children were actually living with me for a few weeks while the mother, out on one of her 4-5 vacations a year (paid with "child support money") was not even in the country.
There is absolutely no accountability for child support money and what it is used for.
It was all about Welfare Reform, and making fathers pay to support the children "as completely as possible from the residents of the Commonwealth." Unfortunately, good people got screwed by th mass histeria that followed.
I had a nice surprise trying to get a prescription (asthma medication for one of the children)when I found out my account was seized. Fortunately, he gets a large allowance (indirectly, sourtesy of me) and I borrowed money from him to get the medication.
Good thing that they tracked a "deadbeat" like me down...goodness knows it was all "for the children."
If I ever got into a car accident, went into a coma, and somebody did not tell the court that I was "unable to pay" (being unable to wake up) then I would be on the list within a few months. The balance would keep accruing, and the court BY LAW cannot "forgive" past-due child support.
Anyone out there who pays support...if you ever lose your job/pay for any reason you MUST GO TO COURT THAT DAY ,OR SEND SOMEONE FOR YOU!!! Not doing so can ruin you for years to come.
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