Houston, TX– I’ve received countless letters from custodial fathers who tell me that their ex-wives are supposed to be paying child support but aren’t, and the courts do nothing about it. In many cases, such as in the one below, the father was paying child support for a while before he won custody, thus we’re able to get a direct comparison between how the system treated the male child support obligor and the female child support obligor.
As a general rule, I’m certainly not in favor of inflicting the same child support/child support enforcement system on noncustodial mothers that has been inflicted on noncustodial fathers. However, just as I believe there are times when child support from fathers is appropriate, I believe that sometimes child support from mothers is appropriate. Moreover, comparing how child support obligors of each gender are treated speaks volumes about the anti-male bias of the family law system. Some of you may remember last year Emmy Award winning reporter Melinda Spaulding of FOX News in Houston put together a report on Texas custodial fathers who were not receiving child support. I and several of my readers appeared on the show–to watch, click here. I was recently reminded of this issue by a letter from a reader named Chuck. Chuck writes:
Almost twenty years ago here in Kentucky my out of thin air accuses me of physical abuse to our county attorney. I wasn’t even home but that did not stop the automatic Emergency Protective Order against me. I could not go to my home or see or contact my kids. It was a travesty of justice, to say the least. Unlike most guys who just walk away, I decided to fight to the end. (An old Marine Corps trait). It took the morons in the Cabinet for Human Resources another two and one-half years to realize their heroine was in fact the villain. After five years I won full custody of my three minor female children. I had paid about $2,500 a month in order to provide for my family while the court battles raged. When the tables were turned, the court ordered my ex to pay me $250 a month. I got one check for $50 and another for $100 and have never seen another dime. Real equal, huh?