"The act also requires that states have laws requiring procedures to suspend, withhold, or restrict the driver’s licenses of non-custodial parents who are delinquent in their child support payments. In this report the term license suspension also includes withholding or restricting a driver’s license. Withholding a license includes not allowing a person to obtain an initial license. Restricting a license means limiting when a non-custodial parent may drive, such as only to and from work. All three of these procedures are permissible under the act."
It just seems illogical to me to take away that person's ability to get to and from work, or make it that much more difficult to find employment because so many employers require a valid drivers license now, and still expect them to be able to pay the delinquent child support... Then I came across this quote
"The time has come for someone to speak in defense of ‘dead-beat dads.’ Divorced or separated parents who do not pay support have been taking a beating from everyone, including the President.
1 have seen some parents who refuse to pay child support even though they have plenty of money to do so. . . . However, I have seen far more parents who are ordered to pay child support who pay some support but not all they are ordered to pay. Many of these parents are engaged in a financial struggle that they cannot win. These are the working poor."
-Hon. Anne Kass. Presiding Family Judge,
Albuquerque, New Mexico, District Court
Anyone who tries to tell me right now that economic outlook for America is looking up will likely get a long icy glare from me as I consider the consequences of punching them in the face. I agree that the non-custodial parent needs to help financially support his or her child, but it fry's me when I read things like:
I can't get by on what's left of my paycheck. How can I get my child support lowered?
and the answer...
You'll need to petition the court for a lower amount, and you'll need to be able to justify a reduction to the court. Unfortunately, the courts will not always agree that not being able to live on what's left of your paycheck is a valid reason for a reduction. Even making less money than you did before is often disallowed as a valid reason for a reduction; the court may instead rule that you are 'voluntarily under employed'.
Why is it so hard for the courts and government to understand that the 'voluntarily under employed' non-custodial parent may be just damned lucky that he or she has a job at all. How many jobs have been lost the past 4 years? Hundreds of thousands according to the news reports I heard this past week. Wages are no where nearly close to increasing at the same rate as the cost of living, the cost of health care, housing, food ... you know, living.
Which brings me to another topic of concern ... remember the nail fungus from last week? Well I went to pick up the prescription. The pharmacist handed me the pills and said "That comes to $50.00". I sighed and mumbled that my insurance must not have covered this prescription. I about fell over when she told me that it was covered and would have cost me $218.00 otherwise. Maybe it's a bad thing that I'm finally becoming outraged at the rising cost of things like this - I much preferred my little bubble of ignorance. I take back almost everything I said about Medicare previously (though I'm not going to edit it out for historical reference).
