by Mellissa Withers

Created on: March 15, 2010   Last Updated: June 23, 2010

No matter what side of the child support issues you’re on, taking care of your children should be the top priority.  Unfortunately, in some cases this is not what happens.  When it comes down to it, it’s the children that lose out when child support is not paid.  Instead of having two responsible parents, one parent is left to shoulder the burden on their own. 

I think that I live one of the biggest catch 22’s that there can be for child support.  My husband came with four children from his first marriage. His Ex has also remarried and had another child with her new husband.  The problem is that she does not work and will not work nor will her new husband pay her court ordered support.  She is supposed to pay child support and ½ of medical expenses. Nevada has a state minimum of $100 per month per child, so she should have paid $400 then it would go down every time a child hit 18, however she has only been ordered to pay $250.  She has gotten huge discounts and breaks yet still plays “poor me”.  Breaks are given time and time again to the non custodial parent, especially if it the mother, that is forced to pay child support.

We cannot even get her to give the children $20 towards school trips or activities.  She claims because she is a stay at home mom she has no money it’s all her husband’s.  She is firm belief that because she does not work, her husband should not be responsible for her “other” children.  She can’t make her visitation days because it’s “HIS” Car and he will not bring her for visitation.  It’s always some excuse why she should not have to pay nor should she have to face any of the consequences of not paying. The state has threatened if she does not pay they will taken her driver's license, pass port and possibly end up in jail.  Yet it has not phased her but to give her more excuses as to why she can’t pay.  She has no thought to her children and their needs, it’s all about why she should not have to pay.   Everyone that brings a child into the world has to be responsible for those children regardless if you have custody of them.

So she can walk away from four children, then turn around get married, have another child and be a stay at home mom for that child and never have to worry about any responsibility for the four children she walked away from.   Where is that right in any book?   That’s the catch 22 that I live with every day.  The sad thing is the only people that lose are the children. 

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