Michigan finds out what the rest of us know
December 7, 2009Michigan rules derail child support payments | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Every once in a while, a state comes to a realization that the rest of us have known for a rather long, long time. It is tempting to be sarcastic in that sense (as I am guilty of many times myself), but sarcasm does not equal production. So when Michigan realizes that, by artificially inflating the payments of parents who have fallen back on hard times they have discouraged parents from making payments in the first place, even though the first thought is “ya think” our real first thought should be relieving that burden from the parents.
There are other points that the article doesn’t get into, first and foremost is where exactly is that uncompounded variable surcharge goes? Somebody’s pockets are being lined, and I would bet dollars to donuts that it isn’t going to the kids (or even to the custodial parents). Second off there is this line:
David Pate, co-director of the Wisconsin-based Center for Family Policy and Practice, said that states with heavy arrearages could face challenges when seeking federal dollars.
“If you have a very high debt in the state coffers, it looks like you’re not making your collections,” Pate said.
This is very different from the picture that was painted for me when a lawyer described Colorado’s system: if you get a collection it goes down as a payment no matter how much you collect. Maybe they’re talking about the fact that the arrearages are discouraging payments in the first place. Who knows?
