State Laws: Child Support, Why Men Run
Men run from states enforcing strict child support laws. These laws drive men into doing things they normally would not do. Men face prison if they do not pay the child support the court orders, even if he is not the biological father. Child support, paternity, and outdated laws are in controversy in the courtrooms.
State laws have differing amounts of child support. Take Alabama and Florida. The difference in paying for one child in Alabama, (Venohr, 2007) and one child in Florida,(Fla. Stat. § 61.30, 2008) with income of $979 per month is $734. Child support can become a huge burden and depends on which state the child lives in. Most men paying the support have acquired new families. This burden affects not only the child in the previous marriage but in the new marriage as well. According to child support guidelines a child in Florida needs $734 more a month than a child in Alabama. There is a slight increase in living expenses in Florida than Alabama, but Florida believes it takes 29% more to live there. Laws need more regulation to reflect an overall economic need for children. This is one factor of many why men become deadbeat parents. As in the case of Monts, Defendant-Appellant James Arthur Monts, Jr.
Was convicted by a jury of two counts of failure to pay child support obligations in violation of the Child Support Recovery Act (“CSRA”), 18 U.S.C. § 228(a)(1) (Count 1), and the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act (“DPPA”), 18 U.S.C. § 228(a)(3)Count 2), (collectively, § 228(a)). He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 15 months followed by one year of supervised
release on Count 2 and a term of probation of five years on Count 1, each count to run concurrently. The court also ordered him to pay restitution of $66,415.56, (United States v. Monts, 2002). Because many states do not allow the father the opportunity of catching up the payments in a reasonable manner, most faced with this daunting process will run and hide rather than face the state’s strict laws of losing their license, going to jail and a bad credit report.
Many states still have the ancient law first established in England in the 1600’s. These laws assume a child born in a marriage is the legitimate child of that marriage. Women have been unjustly paid in receiving child support for a child from a father they know cannot possibly be the biological father. Women know if there is a possibility that another man can be the father. In one such case reported in The American Journal of Family law “… the husband alleged that the wife had intentionally and willfully concealed the fact that another man was the child’s biological father” (American Journal of Family Law, 2003). Contrary to belief men have emotions, and they are bruised and battered emotionally when they find out they are not the biological father of a child. In USA Today Kasindorf states “Obviously, there’s more to fatherhood than genes...however to pay support on a non-biological offspring should be an individual choice, not ordered by the courts,”(Kasindorf, n.d.).
Outdated laws in many states have caused more harm than they intended when they were first put into effect. These laws were intended to help a child by stating a child born of a marriage is the legitimate child of that marriage. Gilding (2004) wrote about outdated laws in Family Matters, “…there was a marital presumption, if a husband, not physically incapable, was within the four seas of England during the period of gestation, the courts would not listen to evidence casting doubt on his paternity”. State Laws have neglected men who were married and trying to support a good home for a child. Some of these men then end up with another man’s child to support. Many states have laws on how a child is legitimized if born outside of marriage. The men subject to this law have a better chance getting a paternity test done on a child than the men who were married to the women. These laws allow women to go out and break the law by committing fraud and get compensated for it. This also affects a man’s constitutional rights of equal protection of the laws.
These issues are only a part of many problems why there are dead beat dads running from the system. The court system is a mechanical thing. It has no heart and only decides based on the laws of the state and federal government. These laws are outdated and show no constitutional following for equal protection of the laws. Amendment XIV states the following:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, (U.S. Const. amend. XIV).
There is hope, legislatures in more than 40 states have reviewed the child support and paternity laws for their states and have, or are in, the process of restructuring the laws to accommodate the new century. The old laws do not hold up in this century of ever changing knowledge and technology.
References
Does Res Judicata Bar Tort Claims for Misrepresenting Paternity? (2003) American Journal
of Family Law. Retrieved December 16, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.
Florida Statutes Title VI, § Ch 61.30, (2008)
Gilding, M. (2004). DNA paternity testing without the knowledge or consent of the mother.
Family Matters, Retrieved December 16, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.
Kasindorf, M.(n.d.). Men wage battle on 'paternity fraud'. USA Today, Retrieved December 16,
2008, from Academic Search Premier database.
from LexisNexis United States Constitution Amendment XIV, Retrieved January 27, 2009
Venohr, J., Ph.D. (2007) Center for Policy Research, Retrieved January 21, 2008 from
COPYRIGHT Paralegal's Opinion
