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The Tennessee Court of Appeals sent
an important message last week--second families count.
The court ruled in a case in which
a Memphis father faced an 80% increase in his child support, and
the father argued that the expense of raising two children in
his current marriage should be considered in figuring how much
he should pay to support a third child from a previous
relationship. Current child support guidelines prohibit
financial considerations for children from second families,
except under extreme circumstances. The court found that these
guidelines "violate the equal protection guarantees of the
federal and state constitutions."
The court's recognition of the
needs of children of second families is long overdue. According
to Jan Larson, author of Understanding Stepfamilies, one out of
every three Americans is now either a stepchild, stepparent, a
stepsibling, or some other member of a stepfamily. US Census
Bureau reports that over half of all first marriages eventually
end in divorce, and roughly 75 percent of divorced men and women
will remarry. Yet our laws, family courts, and public discourse
generally ignore second families and their concerns.
For example, some states allow a
second wife's income to be factored in when determining the
child support a divorced dad pays to his first wife. Thus second
wives' income is used to support their stepchildren, even in
cases where first wives are not working.
Second families are also affected
by the way state agencies and family courts mistreat divorced
dads. For example, many of the fathers who fall behind on their
child support payments do so because they lost their jobs or
became disabled. Yet, according to Elaine Sorensen of the Urban
Institute, even among fathers who experience income drops of 15%
or more, less than one in 20 are able to get courts to reduce
their child support obligations. While these fathers were unable
to work their arrearages mount, along with interest (10% or more
in many states) and penalties, and federal law prohibits these
debts from being forgiven retroactively.
Many other fathers are the victims
of child support billing errors--which audits and evaluations
have shown comprise a third of all arrearages in some states and
counties--and it is very difficult to get errant child support
agencies to correct their errors, cease collection efforts, and
refund mistakenly collected money.
In addition, states often change
their child support guidelines, sometimes quickly doubling or
even tripling the child support owed.
These factors create a situation in
which many divorced dads and their second families are trapped
in a spiral of child support debt, interest, and penalties--a
spiral which often forces second families to empty their
savings, sell their homes, or declare bankruptcy.
Many divorced dads who have second
families work overtime or work second jobs to try to meet their
first family support obligations and to help their second
families. Yet courts often use these fathers' sacrifices against
them by raising their support obligations based on the extra
income. Thus fathers are often trapped into working long hours
and being away from their families. In addition, often the
overtime hours that were available one year are often
unavailable the next, thus saddling divorced dads with support
levels they cannot meet.
Second families' other grievances
include "move-away moms" (custodial mothers who move their
children hundreds or even thousands of miles away from their
fathers) and custodial mothers who interfere or deny a divorced
dads' visitation and access to his children. These often make
it impossible for men to be fathers to the children of their
first marriages, and also necessitate costly legal battles which
can drain second families' financial resources. Second families
are often left feeling that they must always maintain a
permanent defensive posture, and that they have lost control
over their own lives.
The Tennessee court's ruling is a
sign of the increasing awareness that the needs of all children,
regardless of birth order, must be considered. What is needed
now are new child support guidelines which balance the needs of
children from first families with those of second families.
After all, what parent would dare to put the needs of one child
above the other?
This column first appeared in the
Memphis Commercial
Appeal (8/23/02)
Glenn Sacks writes about gender issues from the male perspective.
He can be reached at Glenn@GlennSacks.com.
Dianna Thompson is a founder and executive director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children (www.acfc.org).
She can be contacted by e-mail at
DThompson2232@aol.com.
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