Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Poor Diddy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060509/ap_en_mu/people_diddy_support

Every once in awhile someone asks me the rationale behind child support and I try to explain that the child support is meant to ensure that the child lives at the same standard of living that the parent lives at and that the child has no economic disadvantage from living with the custodial parent.

I just don't think whoever paying the support generally "gets it." They don't want an ex to have the ability to spend any of the money. Anyway, they could always make a choice in the beginning. Don't get involved with someone if you can't handle the consequences.

1 comment:

Steve said...

I think you're right on the nose with respect to child support. The court's motivation is the best interest of the child. If a parent has a high earning potential, then by leaving the parent and child, then the child suffers the lost potential dedication of monies for his or her care. When a divorce happens, too often the focus goes to the interaction between the parents, and they forget that they have to look out for their child's best interests.

Unfortunately, while a court can order child support, the court cannot dictate how the parent receiving the child support is to use it, which runs the risk of misuse by the receiving parent. This leads to more infighting, which of course completes the cycle. Parents need to be reminded constantly that the chilren's interests are what they need to worry about in a divorce. The kids are already going through enough without being used as ammunition to barter for more or less money.