Un-freaking-believable

From The AP: A Philadelphia man was forced to pay more than $12,000 in child support for another man's daughter and spent two years in jail for falling behind on payments.

(Don't feel bad if you had to read that twice. I did, just to make sure my eyes weren't going crazy.)

Comments

[river rat]

No not after Eight years of Bush and his thugs in Washington, nothing surprises me. I have been shocked so many times that i aim unshockable.

[FanDanGo]

Huh?

The judicial system is a system; it's not a warm, fuzzy social service agency designed to make everyone feel good. Rather, it's an implacable machine which follows certain arcane rules.

Important lesson: If you get mail from a court don't throw it away!

[Joe Joe]

Definitely due to Bush and his thugs...

[Joe Joe]

Oh yeah, I forgot again.... *end sarcasm*

[The Golfer]

And you can guarantee the state will do everything in its power to NEVER reimburse the man for screwing him over.

Their reasonable search? Last name matches, search done.

[Ralfred]

This is not unusual and it has been going on for decades. Child support is based on the premise of what is in the best interest of the child. Once a court "determines" who the father is and orders child support, pesky little facts like paternity tests fall on deaf ears.

FanDanGo is right. If you question whether you are the father of a child, test for paternity immediately and don't ignore letters from the court.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

I hate to point out this kind of carp has been going on for years. Just as the Supremes have said innocence is not an automatic grounds for appeal, the states have taken the same attitude toward fatherhood. Administratively, you're guilty until proven innocent - and if a DNA test would prove that, the state will fight against the test.

It's like the NFL - it's all about numbers and winning percentages. Why would a prosecutor or department risk their win percentage for truth? You've got to be kidding.

[Twinky]

I knew a guy who worked with my wife. The guy was white. His wife had an affair with a black guy and ended up with a black kid (which to me is neither here or there). However a KCMO judge ruled that because the white guy was married to her when she had the child HE had to pay the child support when they broke up over her having the affair. I swear that this is a true story.

Who actually believed the system was there to help people?

It's a machine. We are slaves to it, if we allow it, and even if we don't to an extent.

It does not care about you, nor what is right or wrong, decent or horriffic. The rules are the rules.

It sucks.

[Kevin]

This is not real is it?

[Sasquach]

Twinky's story is fairly realistic. Many states either used to, or still have, systems where the husband is presumed to be the father of a child borne by his wife regardless of the circumstances. Even where that is not the case, the window to challenge custody is most states is so small that if you get put on someone's birth certificate and don't get yourself of within a month or two, you can end up being on the hook for that kid until it turns 18 whether or not you had ever even met the mother. Add that to the fact that in some situations, the only notice required to the father is publishing a blip in the legal notices section of the local newspaper, and you've got a system that I doubt Duck Tape can even fix. Years of abuse by both sides, and a welfare system that don't pay out if you don't try to name the dad, have lead to this result. Now you all know what to do if you can't Duck it...

[jeffrey]

This is part of the new Obama plan of sharing the wealth.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Maybe this guy should have thought twice about getting involved with this woman and should stop being such a dead beat. Its obvious that he's able to help support the kid and that he should continue to pay. I don't care if he's not the birth father, but he's sure acted like he was by paying into the child support in the first place.

Man up dude, and take responsibility for the kid. Someone has to and we all know that mommy is too busy on her back with everyone else who doesn't work and gives her a fake name.

[LADY KC]

Please get over Obama, he has forgotten over you haters! Go Obama/Biden 2012!

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Psst, and Jeffrey, think before you post. How many days has Obama been president already?

[JB]

Ignorance is no excuse, if you let them do that to you then you deserve it! Pay up, the kiddos need the support from someone...

[aqua]

river rat, ladykc and jeffrey need to find a different thread. but they did get some nibbles in here...

anyhoo, I agree with R2. The guy needs to pay up and shut up. If he would have been minding the store, his wife wouldn't have been open for business.

[Huh?]

R2D2, It is unclear as to whether he was living with the mother. It doesn't really state that. The girl lives with the father, who has made payments all along and continues to support her. It is a very confusing story at best. He was paying for kids from a previous marriage which was unrelated to this case. This is a cluster no matter how you look at it

[DW]

The system is pretty much messed up. I was paying child support for my kids voluntarily when my ex and I split up. The system decided that that was a gift because there wasn't an order because we wasn't divorced yet and man they hit me like a ton of bricks with all sorts of stuff including back child support even though I had already paid.

But yet I know of people who they don't ever go after that owe tens of thousands of dollars and it's like they don't care. I knew a mom who would provide the state with an address and a job every time that her ex would move or get a new job and the state never went after him and in 14 years he's never paid a cent.

I'm all for paying child support, but the state figures if they have somebody, regardless on if they are the father or not, they have somebody to pay child support. And it's damn easy getting put on a birth certificate. The father doesn't even have to be there or even be the father.

[Realist]

"I don't care if he's not the birth father"

R2, I hope some cop shoots you to cut down on the amount of crime in the city. I don't care that you're not a criminal.

[Bohica]

Aqua said "If he would have been minding the store, his wife wouldn't have been open for business."

I have to disagree. Sometimes people in depression will do things even though everything is great at home. Maybe she had depression??
Maybe she wanted to try something on the side?? Maybe she was gullible and let him sweet talk her... blah blah blah...

[Chuck Rizzo]

How is this at all Bush's fault? I'm really confused, this happened in Philly which by all standards is a pretty heavy democan't town so how did Bush and his thugs do this? And Cowboys don't have thugs sorry. You need to turn off the Kieth Olbermann for ten minutes and think before you all start talking.

You have to sign the birth certificate to be responseble first off. Second you can't just put anyone down as the father and theyir responsible. I mean think about it. If you could do that I would have put Warren Buff or Bill Gates as my baby daddy!!! Some women/girls are sneaky and swear the kids is the guys and they put their name on the BC then only to find out the BM lied. Donlt sign a dang thing till you get a paternity test.

[abe]

so will the state have to pay him back the money?

[thinker]

"R2, I hope some cop shoots you to cut down on the amount of crime in the city. I don't care that you're not a criminal."

And another one misses the sarcasm train.

To be fair, you got me as well till I read the handle. 8P

[DW]

That must be a new thing in the last couple of years then because I know of several and me personally was put down on birth certificates and never signed anything, yet ended up on their anyway.

Granted, the ones I was put on were my kids, I just wasn't there when she filled out the paperwork for the birth certificates. However, I never signed a single thing for them and the first one I wasn't married to his mother, we got married the next week and the last one I wasn't married to her mother, we got married a couple of years later.

I also know that as late as 1999 if you were married, the husband was automagically decided to be the father regardless of anything else. They could request a paternity test and have it solved that way down the road.

"You have to sign the birth certificate to be responseble first off. Second you can't just put anyone down as the father and theyir responsible."

[Jellybean]

DW - My ex paid some child support, directly to me, before there was an order. (His Mommy made him do it because I was borrowing money from her to pay the electric bill). But, ANYWAY, he gave me some money and when I got him into court for the child support order, I told the judge how much he had already given to me. That amount was subracted from the arrearage. Later, it showed up on the Trustee's records as an arrearage, but I was able to clear that for him with one phone call.
Sounds like your ex was not very nice - or honest.
Of course, maybe that's why you divorced her in the first place.

[Nemesis]

Did the judge flip a coin or an ouija board to decide paternity? The judge needs to sniff some more glue and kill off the remaining viable brain cells, because he is already brain dead.

[Ralfred]

There was a case where a nurse was having an affair with a Dr. She got pregnant and said the baby was the Drs. She and her husband got divorced and the Dr. was ordered to pay child support.

Later the ex-husband had a paternity test and it showed the child was his. He could not get visitation, nor could the Dr. get out of paying child support because the court decided it was in the best interest of the child.

[Ralfred]

The most famous case is that of Charlie Chaplin. He was found to have fathered a child, even though a blood test showed the child was not his. Once again, it was in the child's best interest.

[MakeTheRealDadPay]

There has been legislation introduced in Missouri for the past two years to stop this kind of nonesense. Two years ago by Sen Koster, last year by Sen Koster and Rep Hubbard.

The Missouri Legislature needs to enact legeslation like either of the bills introduced in the last two years and correct this problem right now.

maketherealdadpay.org

[Slim]

This is old stuff. The laws in some places state that you have a time limit - often a few months to have DNA testing done to prove it isn't your child. If you don't have it done within that period, you pay or go to jail, even though you aren't the father.

The purpose is to supposedly to keep the State from picking up the tab for supporting the family.

[Slim]

This is old stuff. The laws in some places state that you have a time limit - often a few months to have DNA testing done to prove it isn't your child. If you don't have it done within that period, you pay or go to jail, even though you aren't the father.

The purpose is to supposedly to keep the State from picking up the tab for supporting the family.

[Slim]

This is old stuff. The laws in some places state that you have a time limit - often a few months to have DNA testing done to prove it isn't your child. If you don't have it done within that period, you pay or go to jail, even though you aren't the father.

The purpose is to supposedly to keep the State from picking up the tab for supporting the family.

[doesn't matter who's the daddy]

been paying support for years, on a child not mine. The mother & I stopped dating & her new guy had no money. She purposely gave wrong info so I never received anything requesting support or paternity test. Then a few years ago; got hit with 2 garnishments (one current & one back). When I told the court I was never notified & wanted kid to be tested, was told Missouri is a "grass roots" state once you start paying support (voluntarily or by garnishment) you are responsible no matter if you are blood or not. I don't even live in Missouri, but that's where the mother filed-go figure...

[hand of God]

And of course, the dumb a$$ed biatch of a mother just kept takng the money and not saying a word. Pathetic. I'm sorry, I think I would have gone postal on some lazy a$$ed "Family Service" worker and mother. "Ruin my life, will you"? "I think I'll teach you a lesson or two"............

"This is not unusual and it has been going on for decades. Child support is based on the premise of what is in the best interest of the child."

So if a fatherless child randomly picks me as a father because I have the same last name, that means I am responsible for the child even though I have never been within 100 miles of the mother? After all, that is what's in the best interest of the child -- someone to pay the bills.

"Maybe this guy should have thought twice about getting involved with this woman and should stop being such a dead beat."

Did you even bother to read the article or the overview? The man responsible for the child support DID NOT EVEN KNOW THE MOTHER. He was declared the father because he has a similar name to the girl's father and because he signed for a certified letter.

Even if this man did know the girl's mother and was involved with her, why would he automatically be responsible for any offspring this woman produced? Based on your argument, I am legally responsible for the children of all my ex-girlfriends. After all, I should have thought twice before getting involved with any of them. I'm a loser deadbeat because I don't support them, even though though I'm a father to none of them and they were born years after I broke up with any of these women. But I "should have thought twice about getting involved with" these women and therefor I am responsible for their kids. That's just obvious, anyone should know that.

"Its obvious that he's able to help support the kid and that he should continue to pay. I don't care if he's not the birth father, but he's sure acted like he was by paying into the child support in the first place."

Why would court forced payments be evidence the man was the child's father? Suppose I am involved in a traffic accident and wrongfully found to be the cause of the accident, then ordered by the court to pay $2000 per month to the other party or I go to jail. I pay a few of the months, then new evidence emerges that shows I am not at fault. You are saying I am still guilty and must continue making the payments because the previous payments show me as guilty, even though I only made those payments to avoid going to jail.

Every time I think people can't possibly get any more stupid I am proven wrong. Good work, people.

[Ralfred]

"So if a fatherless child randomly picks me as a father because I have the same last name, that means I am responsible for the child even though I have never been within 100 miles of the mother? After all, that is what's in the best interest of the child -- someone to pay the bills."

That's not quite how it works, but close enough. The law says it is in the best interest of a child to have a father and have support. I never said I was for it, I was simply sharing the legal reasoning behind these asinine results.

[Big Sam]

RiverRat, you are a dope. This system has been in place in the courts for decades. A woman can name any man she chooses on a birth certificate. If he doesn't challenge it, the kid is his. The onus is upon him to prove he didn't know she named him.

It is even worse if at any point after the baby's birth he does anything to help the kid out (hence, even helping the mom out counts). He then is locked in.

The system states via the appeals courts that this idiocy in the law should stand.

It has nothing to do with Bush. It has nothing to do with Republicans. You sir, are so out of touch and paranoid that you have reached a level of pathetic rarely seen.

[Joyce]

Parents do NOT need to sign a birth certificate in the state of Missouri. My son was born in 1997 and I was waiting in the hospital for the paperwork to sign his birth certificate. I stayed for 4 days due to c-section.

My name and my husband's name were typed in on the birth certificate. Neither one of us signed it. My son was born at Baptist Hospital in KCMO.

The Child Support system is messed up and nobody should be forced to pay CS for a child they are not aware of, etc. There should be mandatory DNA tests if there is any question on who is the father.

This happens in many states across the country. There are many women who will gladly take any man's money, it's always about the money with them.