Change On Federal Benefits Payments Could Leave Child Support Debtors With No Income

[happyslug]

54. Most Domestic Relations Offices do a $50 in case someone ends up on welfare

I was just pointing out where the $50 amount comes from. If a larger amount is set for a low income person, Custodian parent only gets the $50 if the child is on welfare. Domestic Relations Offices know this and use $50 as a minimum order for everyone UNLESS the non-custodian father has income to justify an order that clearly puts the Child out of welfare.

Remember, in the 1990s when "Welfare Reform" was the rage, it was found that the Number one reason children were on Welfare was they were NOT getting enough Child Support. Thus the maximum attachment of a non-custodian parent's income was raised to 55% (65% of more then one Child involved) from the previous 25% attachment level (which is still the FEDERAL limit for attachment for Credit Cards and other lawsuits).

Most of what is occurring in regards to Child Support is related to Welfare Reform of the 1990s. The whole effort of Welfare Reform was to get people off Welfare and since the Federal Government had NEVER paid for adults without Children in their care, any reduction in welfare rates HAD to be directed at Children. Thus one aspect of Welfare Reform was increase Federal involvement in Child Support payments. You could NOT cut down Welfare levels without reducing the CHILDREN on welfare. The only way to do that was to increase income to the Child's family, and since no one wanted to pay MORE for welfare, Support law was changed instead.

Side note: The $50 existed BEFORE Welfare reform, thus was kept as part of Welfare reform.