I May be Going to Debtor's Prison

[JDPriestly]

201. We need to have a national discussion about the problem of divorce.

Yes. Things go wrong.

But all too often couples impoverish themselves through divorce. The process is way too expensive. Going back to court to get a review of a child support order can be prohibitive, and a lot of parents don't have the time or the education to prepare the papers.

Two households are, virtually always, more expensive to maintain than is one.

Child support is a big problem. Always has been. But now that jobs are hard to get, I don't know how divorced couples are managing to care for their children.

This is a national problem. California's laws are way ahead of those in some other states, I suspect. The non-custodial parent's child support is decreased by in proportion to the time the parent spends caring for the children. That encourages the non-custodial parent to be a real parent to his/her children. Overall that policy has been very positive for children in California. Also, of course, it isn't just dads who pay child support although, to my knowledge, a stepfather's income is not figured in to reduce the natural father's obligation. I could be wrong about this because some of these laws may have changed in the past few years.

But it is still tough here.