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0 pointsnotch656a4y ago0 comments

That's actually my point. IF they are able to meet their obligations in nursing and their job is literally such a superior option to all the alternatives that they don't have 'optionality' then it's a weird flex to be angry at your one best(least bad) option that actually pays your rent and child support. Be angry that the alternatives aren't as good as the nursing gig you have.

I definitely feel for those paying child support, because 'imputed income' means you must pay at whatever rate the judge thinks you can make the best money at. You can never take a more relaxing lower paying job, because it will result in your imprisonment. Those people really have no future in the US -- their only option to throttle back their income is suicide, leave the country, or wait to go to jail. I blame society for the existence of these debtor's prisons, not nursing employers.

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landemva4y ago

Seems you understand the more income -> more support trap. Mandatory overtime is considered in support calculations. That sets high water mark so going back to 40/hours week does not lower payments. I learned the hard way, and last employer I regularly sent email to boss thanking them for opportunity to work voluntary overtime. I would subpoena the boss's response of 'yes' for evidence in child support hearing to only use 40/hours week. The courts and county child support enforcement are wicked and liars.

notch656aOP4y ago

Yes that never made the slightest sense to me. As someone married with a kid, when I get a raise or bonus it goes to my retirement -- not as a change in quality of life for a child who already has food/shelter/education. The kid still gets the same amount now as when I made significantly less. The idea that a kid needs more money because you worked overtime is quite possibly one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard. At best it's simply backdoor alimony.

RHSeeger4y ago

But the counter to that is, just because you work a minimum wage job and can't afford much child support, doesn't mean that what you can afford is enough to raise the child well. I expect it's very hard to say "the child needs _this_ much in order to be raised well" and then scale up from 0 to that amount as the parent makes more money. But you also can't just decide how much the child needs and then make the parent pay that much no matter how much they make. So the compromise is to base the amount paid on the amount the parent makes, and not really cap it. This has the benefit of allowing low earning parents to pay less, at the cost of high earning parents paying more (than is really needed).

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