NY Child Support: Do Your Children Really Get It?

Whenever young children are involved in a divorce, child support is mandatory. We have all heard about the dead beat parents who never pay child support, right? What about the one’s who do and have no real way of knowing where the money has actually gone?

Of course, in a perfect world one would expect that money to go the well being of the child. Does this always happen? A recent article that was published in the Huffington Post talks about this issue.

Does this really happen? Do parents sometimes take the money that is set aside for the care of the child and use it for themselves? Of course they do.

“This can and does happen because, while we have a robust system to deal with ‘deadbeats’ who don’t make their child support payments, there is no system to verify that the child support payments being received by the qualifying parent are, in fact, being spent on or put away for the child”, the article states.

Since there is no system in place to guarantee that the child support you are paying goes to your child’s well being, what can you do?

Communication with your ex-spouse is one way to check up on where the money is actually going. Ultimately this is an area of divorce law that requires some checks and balances, as there is no effective way of monitoring where the money is actually going. There is no way to police how the custodial parent spends the money.

The law assumes that the money will somehow make its way to the children, as there’s rent, food and utilities to spend it on for their best interest. If your spouse is spending money on themselves and neglecting the children in some way that’s another story. Then you can bring the issue before Family Court and try to alter the custody arrangements.

The entire article can be read here.

Ray says:

November 17, 2011 at 9:04 am

This is an under-addressed issue that has become just as much of a problem as non-payment, or should receive just as much attention as non-payment, but it doesn’t. I have always been current with my children’s support however; my son was made to wear the boyfriend’s underwear due to him not having any of his own at the time. Another instance, the mother moved in a deadbeat dad of eight, living in my children’s home, being care for with my children’s support. This man had no job, no car, and no home and provided no support for his own eight children. But I am being made to assist with his care. My children’s mother assisted him for two years until he cheated on her and then moved into the basement until he found someone else to use. Then his son moved in with my children. I am unable to ensure My Children have the quality of life that I choose for them to have. I could do so if my finances were not compromised by funding the mother’s lifestyle, which was the reason I lost my family in the first place. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!