First off, there is nothing in the Constitution addressing people helping to pay for their kids after divorce. The founding fathers just did not anticipate this issue.

Second, they do need a formula to decide what's "fair", and so it usually depends on income. In their mind, the kids should enjoy the same standard of living they would have if their parents were still together.  So, is he paying more than he should in terms of his income?

Third, some greedy mothers do use time with their kids to get more child support, sadly. This is hard to avoid. And yes, the system is often geared towards supporting women AND their children, it needs updating in light of how many mothers work or should work.

Fourth, I do think it's unfair that the non-custodial parent pays the taxes, and and can't claim that. That seems wrong to me.

I guess whether child support is too much depends on how much dad makes.  In our state, if my SO didn't have enough parenting time to use the "shared custody" formula, he would be paying just about $1200 in CS (25% for 2 kids).  On top of that he'd need a big enough place for the kids to stay when he had them, a big enough vehicle and car seats to transport them, he'd need clothes and toys for our house, he'd have to feed and entertain them during the times he had them, he'd probably need to split extracurricular expenses, etc., etc.  The kids qualify for public health insurance so at least he wouldn't have that expense.  It's not as if the non-custodial parent doesn't have child-related expenses beyond CS.  On top of that he wouldn't get the Child Credit and head of household status on his taxes (I think personal exemptions are pretty much gone as of this year, so that doesn't matter anymore).  Since he currently lives hand to mouth, and the expenses of having the kids for standard NCP visitation as opposed to 50/50 wouldnt't really be that much different for us, that CS would cripple him.  Fortunately he has 50/50 custody and, at least for now, no CS.  In our case BM also lives paycheck to paycheck, so we don't have the perceived unfairness of her living in a $500,000 house and having a much higher standard of living.  I say "perceived" because I don't think it's fair to count the income and assets of a spouse who is not the parent, as that person has no obligation to support the children.  In our case, I own the house we live in, and I don't think it would be right to impute any of my assets to SO for purposes of CS.

If a father had a much higher income, there's more discretionary income and while 25% wouldn't be painless, and in most cases would affect the standard of living, it wouldn't cripple the father and any subsequent family he had.

I agree that the system is messed up, although I wouldn't say it's illegal or unconstitutional.  We are lucky to live in a state where 50/50 custody is presumed to be in the best interest of the children. 

Regardless of anyone's personal opinions on what is the 'right' amount, the 'fair' amount and or 'enough' amount, CS is based per our individual states laws and guidelines.

You live in Texas. The CS is very cut and dried. Your DH pays per his income and a flat percentage. 

While I understand your feeling and the idea of 'enough is enough' , the real only hope is their your state legislature. Until the laws/guidelines are reset, the argument will continue. 

Your state does not even take into consideration whether the CP works or her income. It is what it is. 

My state recently changed how CS is calculated here. It as fought for years. First change in over 30 years. We were a flat %, didn't matter if CP or was rolling in high income. Didn't matter number of overnights. Nothing counted but solely the NCP's income. 20% one kid, 28% two kids, I forgot now but it was either 33 or 35% three kids. And yes, healthcare was totally on top of CS. 

Yes!!! We have to maintain a separate wardrobe at our home because BM never sends clothes. DH pays insurance on SS and most of the time we end of buying his school stuff too. 

Most definitely sucks to have $500/month taken out of an already tight budget. Of course that’s money he pays taxes on but she never does. From my understanding, she doesn’t even have to report it on her taxes so that’s $6,000 a year she’s spending tax free. Also because she’s unmarried (even though she stays with her BF), with 2 minor children, she qualifies for food stamps, Medicaid and all that stuff despite having an ridiculous about of income (she gets child support for both kids from their respective fathers). 

Thw “family court” system really sucks 

There's a documentary called Divorce Corp, it used to be on netflix.

CS is a money making machine for the govt.  CSE lobbyists pay off politicians to keep the laws unfair.  In many other countries, there is much less incentive to cheat on a spouse, divorce him, keep his kids from him for the most $$, and alienate his kids.  Because they have presumed shared custody, and little to no CS.

A lot of states here are beginning to do that.

In our case, equal shared custody would be bad, because BM is psycho abusive and we'd have a hard time proving it, and the burden would be on us to do so.  BM was found to be neglectful, but I'm not sure that is a high enough standard for these new laws in other states.  We don't get CS, but Killjoy should have limited contact with BM anyway.

I do think CS should be taxed income for the receiving parent, and a writeoff for the paying parent.  And both parents should be able to write off daycare expenses.

The income of the new spouses is not and should never be relevant.

Clothing is cheap if you know how to shop.

I can vouch for GA Child Support office sucking, but I am on the other side. It's not always the NCP that gets a raw end (but on this site that's what we see), but it does seem one side is always treated poorly, when it is *supposed* to be a simple calculation. 

My formerSO and I split due to his son treating me AND my babyBS (formerSO's son also) horribly - escalating to dangerous behaviors. Nothing was done to correct such behaviors...in fact it was put on me that "if I would just love him like he should be loved" it would all be ok! I left formerSO. 

Long story short, I filed for support. After losing my first filing (2 month delay) and I had to resubmit they finally started. However they did straight up tell me they wouldn't be working that hard on my case as I was not a welfare recipient. "CS office was originally started for welfare cases only, don't you know". Six months later was an appointment, that formerSO blew off (he was sure he was going to talk me into returning to that nightmare). Two more months later he finally showed up, without all the propper documentation.

He greatly reduced his work load in the 2 months he had between when he was supposed to come in and when he actually did, thus decreasing his pay by nearly half. He did not bring W2 as requested. They let that fly and only presented his 2 months of pay stubs. He also recieved credit for health insurance, which normally I get, but he already has family coverage for his other kids (court ordered) so adding our son didn't change the cost. Also, he didn't mention the other 2 on the insurance so he got credit for the TOTAL amount, not prorated. There was not a court hearing. They did this all in the office (without me present) and I had zero chance to object to the lack of documents.

I'm not sure what all he said to them (but I can about imagine), but since then they have been BITCHES to me. They "lost" my child care reciepts, so I recieve no credit for those costs (which, are fairly significant). 

My formerSO refuses to have contact with our babyBS until I move back with him. I will NOT. So, he has abandoned our son because I will not put up with abuse of myself or my baby. So he is NOT having to provide a home at all for him either. 

Compared to what he "should be paying", based on the calculators, he is paying just under 1/3 of that amount. It is not much. 

It will be reviewed in 3 years. I can request a review if I can prove a difference in pay of 20% for myself or him (how can I prove his income has gone up??). I actually have increased my pay by almost 20%, hopefully by the beginning of the new year I will be there. But, the CS doesn't have to approve my request....

I feel you on the stuggle of unfair amounts. And from what I gather, GA Child Support office pretty much stinks across the state, not just my county. 

The system definitley isn't fair, or frankly right. But there aren't enough people out there fighting for it. The issue is, in order to see REAL change we'd have to have lawyers and politicians out there fighting for it, and we jsut simply don't have those right now.

Court has gotten a BIT more dad friendly, but for the most part, courts assume Bm should have the kids becuase "she is mom." They assume that BM needs financial help and expect the BF to hold the majority of the financial burden because that's how it's "traditionally" done.

We currently have custody, and Psycho is SUPPOSED to be paying CS, but we'll probably never see a penny. DH was supposed to have an appointment this week and they even moved that back, because he's "not a top priority." Which maybe there's just too much going on and they double scheduled. But to me it's them telling him that they have better things to do thatn make a "mother" who abandoned her kids for a year, ditched weeks to months before then, has NEVER paid a penny to support them, has been on heavy drugs, admitted in court she's done drugs with them around, then lied and said she was sober, they didn't even make her take a drug test, AND told her sister two weeks before court she doesn't even want them.

It's not a good system, it's a VERY broken system, it drains homes and families rather than holding both households responsible for the financial wellbeing of the kids. Or idk, forcing both parents to work and support the kids evenly? Run their own households?

Please let us know when your husband is given a review on his CS. Learn the states guidlines on how cs is calculated.

IS your husband also paying back cs?

I'm curious as to who came up with these ridiculous amounts.

1200 a month...cripes that's double my grocery bill for a family of 6, with 5 being adult portions....if i had 1200 from my ex, doeant that mean he has 1200 less to pay on his own lifestyle?

I don't believe in standard child support.

I believe in getting payment for expenses. 

It's BOTH parents responsibility to pay bills. If all mom can afford is a 1 bedroom because she works minimum wage, oh well... Dad should pay no more than HALF the things that are actually for the kids. Half a receipt for new school clothea. Half a reciot for school lunches. Etc.

Not dads problem if mom can only afford rice and beans for supper. The kids won't be scarred for life... 

The reason i feel that way is because if mom makes minimum wage... What incentive does she have to go after something bigger and better if in reality she makes double her pay?

Goes both ways obviously... If dad can't afford rhe lifestyle his income should produce... He shouldn't be forces to give his earned lifeatyle to mom while he lives the lifearyle ahe woukd have without his money.

Help pay for kids, absoluteky... But half of what they COST, with receipts, not half the bills because the other woukd atill have those bills even if they didnt have kids.