Posted by
Paul Wamack on Thursday, October 04, 2007 8:51:59 AM
ATTENTION ALL EX-WIVES!!
Are you entitled to receive child support payments? Would you like to see your ex-husband pay more? That's right -- even if that mean old judge says you are already getting your "fair share" of his earnings, you can make him pay more whether he agrees or not!
I know it sounds outlandish. I didn't believe it when I first stumbled into this little secret. Here's what you have to do: pack up and go to Idaho. When you arrive with your kid(s) and no job, immediately apply for welfare benefits from the State of Idaho -- no waiting. The rest is done for you! Regardless of the status of his payments, without ever having a hearing in an Idaho court, without anything more required than your receiving benefits from the State of Idaho, his child support payments will be re-assessed to cover the costs to the State of your benefits. Don't forget all the goodies beyond the traditional cash payment -- be sure to ask for health insurance coverage for the kids, food stamps, maybe the state would like to furnish you an apartment (if only until you can find a place you prefer), and ask your welfare worker about emergency relief payments, clothing allowances, really pile it on. Remember, he is going to be paying for all of it. By the time he learns what you have done, he is already legally liable, regardless of the agreement or payment history in the state where your case file resides. No one ever asks his opinion, just surprises him with a new bill to pay. What could be better than that?
I would never have thought it possible. I used to think it was unconscionable to make someone responsible for someone else's behavior -- especially in cases where there is traditionally a great deal of animus such as a divorce. But that's exactly what the law says. CAUTION: I am no lawyer -- not yet, although I energetically intend to include law school in my plans as soon as I possibly can -- but I am told by other folks who already suffer from law degrees that there are several other states with this arrangement as well. So you may want to check it out to see if there is one nearer you than Idaho.
Why am I saying all this? Child support regulations are out of control. The whole child support system gets its public and political steam from the emotional reaction to the image of ragged, sad-eyed children who need their milk money to stave off starvation. Who can argue against that? Nothing could be farther from the truth, so the continued support for more and more child support restrictions is based on a fraud. I believe I read somewhere that about 80% of all court-ordered child support payments will actually go to the states where the custodial parent lives. These payments are for reimbursement of all sorts of support payments that the family received. I know of at least one instance where the support payment goes to repay health insurance premiums that the family never accessed because they didn't even know they had the coverage, and stopped it when they figured it out.
So this supposed compassion of taking on the mean ex-husband who rudely dumped his sweet, innocent wife in tears and abandoned his family in a desperate state of need and hunger, all forlorn and pitiful -- am I making you gag yet? -- is really a grab for an additional income stream to the states. This isn't milk money, this is a stealth tax. So there is no motivation to let the truth out. Nothing is going to get any better until things have gotten so bad that the imbalance comes into the public eye. When is "bad enough"? Hard to say. But let's talk about it.