Should CP's be required to account for child support spndg?

[defaultuser]

If I was receiving child support, and hopefully I will be soon...

I would not mind at all making an accounting of how I spent the money on the kids. In fact, it would be nice for the other parent to know how their money is being spent.

[dadmisseskids]

If I was receiving child support, and hopefully I will be soon...

If your ex is like mine, don't hold your breath.

I would not mind at all making an accounting of how I spent the money on the kids. In fact, it would be nice for the other parent to know how their money is being spent.

Where I live, they give you a debit card and the funds are deposited right into it. Then, you can just print out the statements just like you would with any other credit card.

So I guess it's technically being done where I live but nobody is monitoring it. One thing that's weird though, you can't use it for gas. I don't understand that. Most of my miles are because of the kids. Anyhow, that's another story for another day.....

[dadmisseskids]

I'd also like to point out that my posts above, which refers to money laundering and the $20 bill analogy, kind of plays into the debit card they use here. My CS, when I receive it, is less than my food bill. So if my food bill is $500 and I receive $480, I will just use my debit card at the grocery store. The CS funds are used for groceries but in reality each month I have a pot of money (paychecks from work and CS) and I'm just pulling from the pot.

Trying to segregate where the funds came from would seem to be an impossible task.

There is one area where this MIGHT work and that is high CS awards. When you have a high CS award, like $10,000/month, I'm not sure how you can justify spending that much on a kid. So food, clothes and other small things might amount to $600 a month per kid. However, if the CP lives in a mansion, a portion of that $10,000 will go to living expenses. But, there still should be money left over and if the CP is going on lavish vacations without the kid and the CP doesn't have a job, then I think you can justify this type of oversight.

Agree? Disagree?

[Fatheroffour]

My state uses the EBT cards as well. I believe you can request them. I like the idea of having them and maybe making them mandatory if requested by either party.

It provides a trail for the spending.

If the child is being neglected then the NCP should be filing for a modification and can use the EBT statements as supporting evidence.

That's about all the additional regulation needed IMO.

[defaultuser]

Can you buy beer with an EBT card? Get cash?

[Fatheroffour]

An ex had one for the time I knew her and I don't remember there being anything you couldn't buy but I never really paid attention or asked. She seemed to use it for whatever.

We usually bought our beer at a grocery store.

[mcc333]

What about the many cases of where there is a CP and there is a NCP that is absentee and not all that interested?

Cut off the funds to the kiddo if the CP doesn't properly file all their appropriate papers on time? Seems like yet another layer of useless bureaucratic overhead.

Fo4,

What about the majority of cases where the NCP is involved? THe system should be set up for the general rule and excpetions treated differntly rather than setting up a system around the acts of a few a'holes and making everyone else react to them.

[Fatheroffour]

The system seems to be set up for the general rule of mom caring for the kids and dad bringing home the bacon. That's the source of a lot of discussion around here and seen as 'not fair'.

[dadmisseskids]

The system seems to be set up for the general rule or mom caring for the kids and dad bringing home the bacon. That's the source of a lot of discussion around here and seen as 'not fair'.

I'll be objective here. I think the CS system is fair as far as equality between genders. CS is just a number in the computer and so are we. If NCP doesn't pay, an automatic notice gets mailed. The system isn't designed to flag a notice if it's a female.

Where it is flawed, in my opinion and experience, is when the CS award is deviated because of numerous issues. If the CP goes into court and claims they are broke and can somehow manipulate the judge, the NCP will get hit with a higher amount of CS. It's happened to me personally.

I know this is a little OT from the original post but there needs to be more scrutiny when it comes to a deviation or allowing a CP to be on welfare. A perfect example is my lazy a$s ex-wife. Even though she was getting $1050 a month from me in CS, they still gave her food stamps, cash assistance, reduced rent (I'm 90% sure of that), reduced school lunches, reduced day care expenses and free medical. To me that sounds crazy. A few months before she applied for welfare, she quit her job where she was making $45K per year.

If a person who has any common sense looks at her life, you will see that she doesn't need to be on welfare. She is just a lazy NJ. If they looked at her life, you would see that she went on two vacations for a total of four weeks in 2011, without the kids. You will see that she lives in a luxury apartment. You will see the kind of clothes that she wears. When you compile all of that information, it is really easy for any objective person with a shred of common sense to see that NJ doesn't need to be on welfare and she is just sucking on the tit of the state. Yeah, I guess I was a little bitter because I couldn't afford to pay certain bills and was working my tail off while she gets to sit at home and go on vacations. Hell, I haven't had a vacation in two years and I have a good job!

I guess my point is, CS awards should be by the numbers. If there is any deviation requested, they should have a PI look into this persons life. I know that will never happen but I'd have to believe that a large portion of people who are requesting a deviation from the standard CS number are hiding income, assets or something else in order to not pay CS (NCP) or in the case of the CP to get more in CS. It's a game. Period.

The same thing applies to people who want to go on welfare. If they are requesting it, open up your life. Lets look at your bank accounts for the past three years, your debts, your lifestyle, where you go at night, what your education level is, who your friends are, etc, etc, etc. It bothers me a lot because I know there are people who really need welfare and people like my ex-wife are taking resources away from the those who really need it.

People on welfare should be owned by the government.