Ken Wrote:

I prefer the words, "parent support" because the money is given to the custodial parent to spend any way she wants to.
Regards,
Ken in MD

Response:

I prefer the term "child extortion" because you are forced to pay this arbitrary percentage of your income to your ex-wife (higher than all 49 other states in Mass.) under the threat of jail - when the state created this situation and need by ignoring the father's constitutional rights to parent his own child (with a 50-50 split of time, now proven better for children).

Basically the state took away your kids making it impossible for you to provide the proper level and kind of financial, emotional and other support and makes up for this wrong by forcing another wrong on you. It is extortion by a bureaucratic system run wild and only "child support" to the people benefiting from this HUGE money train, which includes judges, lawyers and ex-wive's mainly.

I am all for supporting your children, and even throwing people in jail who do not, but the way it is done is not by taking away your children and then making you send a check to your ex-wife every week. Both parents should have the right to HAVE and RAISE their children, not be effectively turned into financial slaves for the sole benefit of the "primary caregiver".

Think about this they (our government) take away our children because someone wants a divorce, and then they use that as the excuse to take our income (about 40% after taxes in Mass.!).  This is an unbelievably unjust system designed solely by and for women and the courts benefit. It creates more pain and suffering than no system at all would.  It should have become illegal simultaneously with the equal rights amendment or certainly decades ago when women achieve wage earning power. It is amazing the feminists do not see the irony in this and how it actually hold women back from achieving a fuller life too. They want to be supported by men even after the divorce, when they do NOTHING for the ex-husband after the divorce. A clearly one way system.

Mike Added:

Imagine a neutral example. If someone took your car from you without your consent or due process of law, that would be wrong. If they then made you continue making payments on it, that would be a double wrong.

Children, of course, aren't cars. They are far more valuable to us, and we to them, than cars could ever be. No one should ever be allowed to take our children from us. That is a terrible wrong. To take our children from us, and then make us pay the kidnaper, is a double crime. -- END
Child support needs to be replaced with "Shared Parenting" for the good of children and the rights of fathers. Anything else should be illegal (and some would argue already is) , unconstitutional and is at odds with all the real scientific research that has proven both parents together raise a better child.

Two parents can agree to non-equal parenting time and then agree to some level of financial support to make up for that unequal parenting time. This should be based on actual costs, not the income of one of the parents.  Forcing this scenario on the non-custodial parent (who was forced into this position and did not elect it) is just plain wrong. Effectively fathers are extorted to pay for the taking of their children, which they never wanted in the first place. It is amazing this continues, but it only continues because the bureaucracy established many decades ago (before women could earn an income) profits by this system.

INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE AND PEONAGE

Involuntary Servitude

Summary:

Section 1584 of Title 18 makes it unlawful to hold a person in a condition of slavery, that is, a condition of compulsory service or labor against his/her will. A Section 1584 conviction requires that the victim be held against his/her will by actual force, threats of force, or threats of legal coercion. Section 1584 also prohibits compelling a person to work against his/her will by creating a "climate of fear" through the use of force, the threat of force, or the threat of legal coercion [i.e., If you don't work, I'll call the immigration officials.] which is sufficient to compel service against a person's will.

The offense is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a term of ten years, depending upon the circumstances of the crime.

TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 1584

Whoever knowingly and willfully holds to involuntary servitude or sells into any condition of involuntary servitude, any other person for any term, or brings within the United States any person so held, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

Peonage
Summary:

Section 1581 of Title 18 makes it unlawful to hold a person in "debt servitude," or peonage, which is closely related to involuntary servitude. Section 1581 prohibits using force, the threat of force, or the threat of legal coercion to compel a person to work against his/her will. In addition, the victim's involuntary servitude must be tied to the payment of a debt.
The offense is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a term of ten years, depending upon the circumstances of the crime.


TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 1581

(a) Whoever holds or returns any person to a condition of peonage, or arrests any person with the intent of placing him in or returning him to a condition of peonage, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

(b) Whoever obstructs, or attempts to obstruct, or in any way interferes with or prevents the enforcement of this section, shall be liable to the penalties prescribed in subsection (a).