posted on Nov, 18 2011 @ 04:55 PM
Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
You want parental rights, then take parental responsibilities. When the child spends 3/4 of the time with the other parent, your main responsibility
comes in with contributing financially.
I hear people say crap like this and I want to go postal. My wife and I split in 1991 with two young kids. When they were little I saw them every
weekend driving 300mi each weekend since she saw fit to move them out-of-state without my permission. I worked my way up increasing my earnings just
about every year and she would repeatedly drag me into court to get more. Whenever my kids needed anything they called me. Whenever they needed help
with school they called me (despite the fact that she had gotten her teaching certification). Every little expense that came along she expected money
from me over-and-above what she was receiving. When we split she was making about $45k/yr. Throughout the entire family court ordeal she was making
$16k/yr working only 20hrs/month. I was paying her almost twice her gross earnings in child support PLUS paying all thie kids medical/dental
insurance. And she had remarried and built a small horse farm.
When the economy up-ended my business of 9yrs crashed. Nevertheless, my daughter was hoping to start college and her mother refused to help her. I
took out a loan so she could go to college and she lived there. I paid for her tuition, room, board, medical and miscellaneous. My current wife and
I were on the verge of losing our house. I was buying diesel fuel 5gal at a time to keep our house heated (60deg). In our state, child support goes
until the child is 25 if they are going to school fulltime. So my ex dragged me into court. I explained that I had paid for my daughter's college,
that she was living at school AND working and that I was out of work since my business had failed. My ex's attorney (she always had an attorney
though I couldn't afford one) told the judge that I wasn't working cause I didn't want to work. He said he found "1,500 jobs in my field on
Monster" (which was an unabashed lie, of course). I explained that I was earnestly looking for a job and sending out over 100 resumes a month and
working with three executive recruiters. There were no jobs. I mentioned that she worked 20hrs a month and was making only $16k/yr and had never
worked more than that. Documents provided by her showed her annualized income potential was around $80k. I also pointed out that the Child Support
Guidelines clearly state that ALL financial contributions are to be considered.
Judge didn't care. Said he didn't care what 'the mother' was doing, only what I was doing. Said I had to pay $2500 as partial 'arrears' and
put me on Community Service for 8hrs/week (picking-up trash on the highway and far, far worse stuff). I couldn't come up with the $2500 and he had
me cuffed and dragged off to jail.
These are just some of the highlights. If your a guy the court looks at you from the get-go as a criminal. Even if you had done right by your kids
without fail their entire lives.
So shove your 3/4 time where the sun don't shine. It has nothing to do with time. It has to do with what you provide in total. She filled her
personal bank account with the kids' money. They never so much as got an allowance growing up.