Showing posts with label deadbeat dads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deadbeat dads. Show all posts

Monday, September 12, 2011

Divorce, Child Support, and Advice to Deadbeat Dads

[Photo from childfun.net]
As you can imagine, because we are Augusta, Georgia divorce lawyers who offer free initial consultations, every day, we receive numerous telephone and email inquiries about Georgia divorces.  In response, we earnestly attempt to give good, sound information about Georgia divorce law.  Also, we always encourage each caller or writer to discuss their divorce questions with their own divorce attorney.  Finally, we also always try to be polite to callers and writers to the Goolsby Law Firm, LLC!

Sometimes, we get questions about divorce which stump us.  In other words, divorce attorneys are not legal encyclopedias.  We simply do not always have the answers without doing legal research.

And sometimes, we get questions for which there are no good responses, or, at least, there isn't a response which the caller or writer wants to hear.  One example of this type of question involves inquiries from so-called "deadbeat dads."  I really don't like to use this term, because, as I have explained before, it unfairly casts a shadow over all dads and ignores the fact that most fathers DO, in fact, support their children.

But a fairly common question we receive from some so-called "deadbeat dads" is:  "How can I surrender my parental rights?"  The answer we generally give is: "You can't!"  In other words, generally, no Georgia judge would (nor should) allow a father to avoid paying child support and simply walk away from their parental responsibilities.  If your spouse won't allow you child visitation, then, generally, your best remedy is to take 'em back to court, in a contempt action, rather than to try to avoid paying child support!

Sometimes, I also want to add that I believe the caller or writer should stop procreating and should consider getting a vasectomy!  But I generally keep such advice to myself!  Like I said, we always try to be polite to callers and writers to the Goolsby Law Firm, LLC!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Fathers and Child Support Obligations

[Photo from mtephraimschools.org]
As Augusta, Georgia divorce lawyers, we often help our clients address issues involving child support, including contempt and child support modification actions.  After all, not all fathers pay child support like they should.  But as we approach Father's Day, perhaps it is important to recognize that most dads "out there," following a divorce, actually support their children, as they should, financially and otherwise.  The "deadbeat dads" exist, but, fortunately, they are in a minority. 
Indeed, according to one source, http://fathersrights.org/, 79.1% of fathers having limited visitation rights pay their court-ordered child support and 44.5% of those fathers having no visitation rights at all nonetheless still pay child support.
Of course, no one is suggesting that, simply because they pay child support, those fathers, (or any non-custodial parents), deserve any special reward.  After all, those dads helped bring these kids into the world, too, and it is their legal and moral obligation to help support their children.  Also, I'll bet that most of us would agree that the true "deadbeat dads" should be severely sanctioned.  But sometimes, I believe it is also important to keep things in perspective, including the point that most non-custodial parents "out there" are, in fact, supporting their kids and doing the right thing!   What do you think?