September
13th 2006
Dear Judge DiGangi and Carey,
I
think we all appreciated your patience
and time yesterday for the federally
required review of CS standards. I
have attached and pasted below a corrected
and improved version of the handout
I gave you. The mother's taxable
equivalent income was not shown as
high enough due to an error in the
calculation formula.
The
reasons to reduce the child support
guidelines are very clear. We are
harming children and destroying the
lives of their fathers too with this
system.
To
summarize the best reasons I heard
the guidelines are too high because:
1.
Massachusetts is the highest in the
U.S. as a percentage of income
that already takes into account living
costs due to higher salaries. Are
49 states wrong and Massachusetts
right?
2.
Three different benefits accrue to
the mother only that are hidden and
need to be included in any analysis
as follows:
a) Father
pays all taxes (after tax dollars
are worth 50% more than pre-tax dollars)
b) Disregard
of $20,000 creates incentive NOT to
work
c) Mother
gets head of household tax status,
when father is forced to earn far
more money
I
do not believe the people who created
this guidelines understood this huge
hidden impact, or looked at the father's
position at all.
3.
We are encouraging mothers not to
work and fathers to work under the
table.
4.
We are not giving children enough
time with their fathers for proper
development and growth. Working mothers
would facilitate more time with dad.
5.
We are creating a welfare system,
and showing children, how to live
off the labor of someone else, not
be independent and contribute to society
The
result of the current system is that
the standard of living of a mother
is 81% higher than the father when
the father earns double, and 41% higher
when the father earns triple. This
might make some sense when children
are of pre-school age and the mother
must stay home, but it make no sense
at all after that timeframe is up.
This system manufactures "deadbeat
dads", drives father out of the
state and country and even to suicide
(9.9 times that of mothers after divorce).
The fact is this system is harmful
to children as a result. Dad lives
in a dump and is unable to spend quality
time with the children to balance
out the female side of childrearing.
We
need to take the money motivation
out of divorce. This polarizes parents
and hurts children.
We
need to have more time for fathers
and shared parenting responsibilities,
allowing the mother to earn more and
set a good example for their children,
not a "welfare" example.
We
need to allow fathers to survive financially
and save for retirement too.
Lawyers are the only ones who gain
from the current system and this is
at a huge cost to children.
It
is an impossible and ridiculous goal
to think that the standard of living
of a family will not go down after
divorce. Especially when mothers are
encouraged NOT to work. This fundamental
flaw in the expectation of this system
is a root problem.
I understand that the legal services
people only work with poor women,
but child support is not a solution
to poverty and high percentages for
all do not help here. This just forces
fathers away, underground and into
under the table cash jobs, exacerbating
the problem further and harming to
children even more.
I
encourage you to rethink this entire
system. It is clear that the people
that originally implemented it did
not understand the repercussions on
fathers and children that are now
clear. Child support guidelines MUST be
change downward in steps that phase
out the disincentives that encourage
capable mothers not to work and live
off the indentured servitude of an
ex-husband.
Fathers are banding together everywhere
now to fight this system. Next year
you will see many efforts to implement
shared parenting, eliminate the abuse
of restraining orders as an offensive
weapon in divorce, a court watchers
system and other initiatives. These
are not symptoms of a successful system
but a symptom of an oppressed class
of people. Non-custodial parents are
not treated just as second class citizens,
but are often treated as criminals
when they can not afford to live at
a minimal level and pay the amounts
ordered.
I
trust more time and thought will go
into this process this time than four
years ago. The results are very clear
when a close look is taken. The judicial
system is encouraging divorce and
making it a very desirable avenue
for mothers. This is ripping the fabric
of society apart and will hurt generations
of children. The family courts need
major reforms.
Sincerely,
Robert A
concerned father whose children have
been kidnapped by the state |
