The biggest losers in a divorce are often children. They might get to see one of their parents less and feel neglected if mom or dad starts another family. Things between the exes might get even more muddled when there’s child support involved. Especially if the parent who is receiving it uses it for something other than the child in question.
A few months back, a Redditor shared his story to get some opinions from fellow Internet users. Other mutual acquaintances thought he was a jerk for demanding the court reduce his child support from $1,200 to $600 because the ex was using it for her other kids. Thus, the dad decided to get some unbiased opinions from the r/AITA subreddit.
Taking care of the child should still be the priority for both parents, even after divorce
Image credits: Ben Mack / pexels (not the actual photo)
But this mother was neglecting her older daughter and using child support to care for her other kids
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska / pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Tatiana Syrikova / pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Recent_Beginning_23
Technically, custodial parents can't spend child support money for their own needs
Some people in the comments raised the question of whether a court would consider using child support money for anything other than taking care of the child fraud. And that might be true in some cases. A parent who spends child support money on themselves, or unnecessary items unrelated to the child, might face criminal charges.
Child support is the legal right of the child, not the parent, after all. And when a situation like the OP's happens, the first step for the other parent would be to collect evidence. Things like asking the child or other people about the situation and checking social media would count as proof, according to HG.
"A lack of nutrition or healthy well-being is another way to analyze the situation to determine if the money is actually helping the young person from the dissolved relationship," their website explains further. And this is one piece of proof the OP was able to deliver. According to his original post, the daughter would arrive from her mother "unbathed" and wearing "dirty clothes."
Sometimes, the evidence that a parent is not using child support to care for the kid might be obvious. If the mother gets a new dress, for example, and it correlates with the date and sum of the monthly/weekly child support paycheck. That is evidence for the father that the mom might be misusing the money.
Image credits: Gustavo Fring / pexels (not the actual photo)
It might be difficult to distinguish between which expenses benefit the child and which don't
The situation gets a bit murkier when there are other children involved. HG writes that the child support money benefits the child "even if the ex-spouse spends some on the other children, a new spouse, or his or her own situation."
Courts will always put the interests of the child first. The money the parent spends on other kids might benefit the child indirectly in some cases. The other parent might have a case against the custodial parent only in cases where they don't provide the child with "nourishment, care, and necessities."
Colorado-based attorney Stephanie D. Rikeman writes that it's simply too hard for the court to police where every dollar of child support goes. "The court won’t interfere in saying where each dollar goes because it's not practical, and if a person spends a dollar of their own income on lunch for the child, then uses a dollar of the child support to pay a credit card bill, the money is benefitting the children in one way or another."
Sometimes, it's possible to monitor where the child support money goes. DeTorres and DeGeorge write that parents can choose to pay through a probation department. Keeping a record of the money when the father wires it directly to the mother makes it more difficult to track. A probation account makes the payments easier and allows for monitoring.
However, the OP already got full custody of the daughter, so the court obviously ruled in favor of the father. He decided to put his child first, and the court seems to have agreed that the girl was getting neglected when living with her mother.
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska / pexels (not the actual photo)
Most of the commenters agreed with the father and told him he did the right thing by going to court
However, some thought he was a jerk for not helping the mother of his child, who was clearly struggling
