Deadbeat dad
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Deadbeat Dad is a pejorative term (primarily U.S.) that refers to men who have fathered a child but fail to pay child support ordered by a family law court or statutory agency such as the Child Support Agency. Deadbeat parents is a gender neutral term referring to parents of either gender assessed as liable to, but not paying child support.
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[edit] Child support arrears
The US Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 68% of child support cases had arrears owed in 2003 (a figure up from 53% in 1999). Many of these arrearage cases are due to the practice of imputing income to parents where it does not exist and issuing default orders of support.
Child support assessments are made based on a variety of formula, and vary from state to state in the United States. According to one study 38% of Illinois non-custodial parents not paying child-support said they lacked the money to pay. Twenty-three percent used non-payment to protest a lack of visitation rights. Fourteen percent complained of no accountability over the spending of their child support money, while 13% said they didn't want their child(ren) and 12% denied parentage. Additionally, some non-custodial parents who have been subject to acrimonious divorces often see these payments as unfair and excessive. Some custodial parents who have been victimized in abusive relationships view the avoidance of child support payments as another means of their spouses perpetuating the abuse.
[edit] Deadbeat dad legislation in the US
The U.S. law commonly known as the Bradley Amendment was passed in 1986 to automatically trigger a non expiring lien whenever child support becomes past-due.
- The law overrides any state's statute of limitations.
- The law disallows any judicial discretion, even from bankruptcy judges.
- The law requires that the payment amounts be maintained without regard for the physical capability of the person owing child support (the obligor) to make the notification or regard for their awareness of the need to make the notification.
Many U.S. states have passed "deadbeat dad laws" that allows the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state to use its information to find the "deadbeat dad" and call him to account for his actions. Of course, such laws apply to both men and women who owe child support, but the corresponding term would be "deadbeat mom".
There are now many collections-oriented sites on the Internet that mention or highlight deadbeat dads, some even showing mug shots and marking the photos as "found" in the style of the FBI's "most wanted" list.
[edit] Action taken against defaulting parents
In the United States, many states suspend an individual's licenses (i.e. driver's license, business license, contractor license) if that individual has significant arrearage in support payments or does not consistently pay support. This authority does not extend to professionals who receive licensure through non-governmental agencies. In 2000, the state of Tennessee revoked the driver’s licenses of 1,372 people who collectively owed more than $13 million in child support. In Texas non-custodial parents behind more than three monthsin child-support payments can have court-ordered payments deducted from their wages, can have federal income tax refund checks, lottery winnings, or other money that may be due from state or federal sources intercepted by child support enforcement agencies, can have licenses (including hunting and fishing licenses) suspended, and a judge may sentence a nonpaying parent to jail and enter a judgment for past due child support. Some have taken the view that such penalties are unconstitutional, even alleging that "The People employed in the family courts and family court services are criminals" However, on September 4, 1998, the Supreme Court of Alaska upheld a law allowing state agencies to revoke driver's licenses of parents seriously delinquent in child support obligations. And in the case of United States of America v. Sage, U.S. Court of Appeals (2nd Cir., 1996), the court upheld the constitutionality of a law allowing federal fines and up to two years imprisonment for a person willfully failing to pay more than $5,000 in child support over a year or more when said child resides in a different state from that of the non-custodial parent. Child Support Recovery Act of 1992
[edit] Terminology
A note about the term “Dead-beat parent” this a descriptive term used more by Child Support advocacy groups than by Child Support Agencies. Child Support Agencies described clients either as in compliance, not in compliance or criminally non compliant. Compliance is judged by the paying party's performance in meeting the terms of the Child Support court order. However, some local authorities have mounted campaigns targeting so called "deadbeats". In the animated cartoon show the Simpson's, Homer Simpson accidentally locks his youngest child inside a newspaper vending machine while getting a newspaper. The headline of the paper that day, read, "Deadbeat Dad Beat Dead".
[edit] Opposition to the use of the term
The men's rights activist Glenn Sacks regularly publicises situations in which government authorities target so called deadbeat parents, noting that jailing people for non-payment (whether men or women), vilifying public campaigns naming and shaming such people can be ineffective and fraught with error where the identification is incorrect.
The men's rights activist Thomas Lessman is a regular participant on talk radio programs in his home of Topeka, Kansas. Thomas has been a victim of these programs, even though he and his ex-wife have a stipulated agreement to avoid any government involvement in their children's lives.
The late men's rights activist Wilbur Street was an activist in the Father's Rights Movement. Wilbur lost his high paying job when he developed Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as "Lou Gehrig’s disease"). The New Jersey system ignored Wilbur's disease and imputed a high income to him, despite his level of disability. In 2005, Wilbur was jailed for a child support arrearage based upon his imputed income. He died in a New Jersey jail on the second day of his incarceration from complications of ALS. Wilbur's daughter has taken up Wilbur's campaign and has become an activist in the cause of Father's Rights.
Shared Parenting Advocate - Stephen Rene [1] has also been lobbying State and Federal Legislators since 2001 to share the message that comes from sharing positive parenting results. Congress responded with the new "Federal Child Custody Protection Act" [2]. This balances the legislation passed in 1996 on Child Support Enforcement for parents that should not be discriminated against based on race, gender, religion or parenting status.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- The Deadbeat Dad Myth: Strategies and Research in Defense of Men in Divorce by William N. Bender and Renet L. Bender, The University Of Georgia, Institute of Government.
[edit] External links
- In Defense of 'Deadbeat' Dads - suggesting deadbeat dads should be released to ease prison crowding
- Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act
- "Today, a child support violator can be prosecuted under Federal law" - child support enforcement
- Desertion Survivors - Support/Advice for Deserted Partners in Relationships
