MENZ Issues: news and discussion about New Zealand men, fathers, family law, divorce, courts, protests, gender politics, and male health.

First post, I’ll try to be brief …

As I see from reading through the wealth of information available here.  I have a realistic view of what can and can’t happen when a loving Dad who seeks 50/50 care of his beautiful children, tries to review how much child support is due from him.

However; it’s late, and I can’t sleep, and I know there’s many people here who know the same truth, that some things in this life aren’t fair.  So excuse me for venting.

I am currently negotiating a full 50% share of nights and days caring for my two gems, Louis (5.8) and Elliot (2.5).  At every turn I find roadblocks to enabling me to care for my two sons.

IRD: We’re very sorry sir, but there’s nothing we can do, someone has to pay the Crown for the DPB she’s claiming.  Even if she chose not to claim, we’ll make her claim.  Pity though.

WINZ: Yeah good one, you really think we can help you, even if you didn’t earn what you earn, she already claims DPB for your two young fellas.  Pity though.

My only hope, is to negotiate with my ex-wife that it’s in the boys best interests that she seeks work, rather than rely on DPB and the Child Support I have faithfully paid every month for the last three years.

Next stop Administrative Review … because unfortunately the cost of setting up house again is getting the best of me.

Second stop Full Custody … if I’m going to see them for half the time and still have to pay Child Support, why not have them all the time and put that money into an account for them?

Nite all, thanks for listening.

Question - How much child support does a female non-custodial parent who earns $197,000 pay?

Answer - The minimum- about $630 a year

Question - How much would a male non-custodial parent who earns $197,000 pay for one child?

Answer - The Maximum - about $17,000 a year for one child

Thanks to IRD a female non-custodial parent who earns $197,000 gets away with paying the minimum.

United Future Leader Peter, i’ll sleep with any political party, Dunne is allowing this to happen on his watch. United Future made a conscious choice to get under the political covers with Aunty Helen and become the Child Support Tax Fuhrer and this is what his Tax Police deliver!

Keep your eyes on MENZ for more Child Support believe it or not.

Regards

Scrap

Too many people here are misunderstanding child support. Where did it come from? Why are Governments so invested in it? Why are they so determined to get it and what is it used for?

Child support was designed to get back tax for welfare payments made to single mothers raising their children on state care.

It was designed as a tax for the father to pay towards the social welfare money being paid out from the Government.

The formula was made and the actual designer of the formula had stated that this would not work on families outside of the welfare system. But the Governments didn’t care about that. They just wanted money to be coming in more than going out.

Why do countries operate child support systems?

This is a matter that needs to be deduced from the history. But time after time the answer always appears to be for one or both (ultimately both) of the following objectives. Everything else is just detail.

1. To reduce child poverty.
2. To reduce welfare spending.

Perceptions depend on the order in which things are done. For example, suppose that the social security (welfare) programme makes the first move (eg. Income Support) in order to relieve child poverty, and child support is added later. (This is the typical sequence - in the USA AFDC came before the latest child support reforms).

Sequence Perception

First: Income Support tops up a lone parent’s income to poverty relief levels. “Social security reduces child poverty.”

Later: Child support dictates how much the other parent pays. It enforces this payment. The child support goes to the lone parent, but the Income Support is reduced by exactly the same amount. “Child support is a Treasury-driven exercise to reduce social security expenditure (hence taxes), even though this keeps children at poverty-relief levels.”

But suppose things happened in a different order, and child support came first. (This does not normally happen. Child support tends to be an after-thought when nations realise they can’t afford the full implications of social security / welfare without help from the other parents).
(more…)

One of the best ways to get change to come about is to use the media, and change needs to come about.  It seems to me that those that are leading our country are a long way off solving the problems that hound us with Child Support.  No matter if you are a liable parent or the spouse of a liable parent there is no question that to some extent you have experienced unfairness through this antiquated system.

I am putting together a documentary to outline these problems and expose the often financially cripling heartache with in the IRD.  I would like to get stories and interviews from both those that are affected and the powers that be. 

If anybody would like to contribute to this documentary please let me know by leaving a comment or contacting me on tigerseye@xtra.co.nz

I’d love to hear from you.

Peace to all,

Tigerseye

Its not often that I am surprised by the next attack on Dads who are in debt for child support. I guess it never occurred to me that Fox TV would create a Child Support Reality TV show.

‘Bad Dads’ Reality TV Show Stirs Controversy
May 02, 2008 03:54 PM ET | Adam Voiland | Permanent Link

This week, I received an intriguing E-mail from Glenn Sacks, a men’s advocate and journalist, crying foul about the possibility that a reality show called Bad Dads might air on Fox. The show’s producers and officials from the National Child Support Center plan to hunt down deadbeat dads and humiliate them into paying child support with the cameras running, according to an article first published in the Hollywood Reporter and then by Reuters, which calls the concept “ambush reality TV—but for a noble cause.”

No doubt Judith Collins is negotiating for the New Zealand Rights for the show. Don’t worry, Peter , I’ll get into bed with any political party, Dunne will probably fund IRD to run a reality TV Child Tax show here.

Squads of Child Tax Police (aka IRD Officials) hunting down Parents (mostly Dads) who owe Child Tax. The loonies (officials and Families Commission) are already running the asylum, designing policy with a model is seriously flawed. The lunatics are indoctrinated with an organisational culture that focuses on collecting money not supporting children. Watch the research results and what they suggest and get ready for Reality Child Support TV

Regards
Scrap

Divorced from wealth - The Sydney Morning Herald - 19 April 2008.

The attack on the Australian Child Support changes continues:

“For the next generation of single women, it is about to get worse. Lawyers and social researchers believe changes to the child support scheme which come into force midyear will leave about 60 per cent of single mothers worse off than before. Fathers, in particular wealthy fathers, they say, will pocket the windfall.”

This is another example of a coordinated and orchestrated attack on the Australian changes to the Child Support Act.

“Dr Baldry also points to regime changes under the Howard government that are now starting to bite: welfare-to-work policies that penalised single mothers, and changes to child custody laws that introduced a presumption of shared care - even where there had been a history of violence.

She says it is not surprising that more middle-class women are relying on charities to supplement their weekly food bill.”

Peter Rabbit (Dunne) is living in a fairytale land. He has not delivered and that failure to deliver shows how much United Future cares about separated families!

Peter needs to ensure that stake holders are engaged as he promised. Relying on focus groups to create a child support position is inherently likely to produce a worse result for kiwi kids and parents .

Peter Rabbit has let loose officials to create a child support position and proposed methodology. I call it letting the loonies run the asylum

This approach to child tax collection , let the officials (Inland Revenue and Families Commission ) decide does not adress the fundemental flaws found in % of income model.

The child support Act 1991 is fundamentally flawed and no amount of tinkering is going to fix it.

RegardsScrap

Media statement

For immediate release

Tuesday, 8 April 2008

The government is looking at ways of improving the child support scheme to make it more responsive to factors such as the complexities of shared care, the income levels of both parents and the costs of raising children, Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said today.

“These are the most commonly identified areas of concern of the many people who write to me and to other MPs about their child support problems,” Mr Dunne said. (more…)

National MP Judith Collins is at it again sweeping up further hatred towards men by using the derogatory term “deadbeat dads”, conveniently failing to mention that liable mothers are at least as likely as fathers to default on paying child support. She based her latest male-bashing bigotry on one alleged case the details of which simply did not add up. If as she claimed this father of two earned $100,000 and had not paid child support for ten years, he would now owe around $950,000 including penalties rather than the $20,000 she cited. Of course, she also failed to mention that average children would never cost that much to run, and that the child support regime is largely intended to make men pay for the independent lifestyles of the women who started families with them, relieving those women of any further reciprocal obligation.

National through John Keys is shooting itself in the foot almost every day, and the concern is this will give Labour the opportunity to govern yet again with parties that support its feminist aims or are prepared to turn a blind eye to them. There is no reason to believe that either Labour or National will do anything to help men or to stop the ongoing process of increasing exploitation and state abuse of men in favour of women. I challenge anyone to point to one policy or initiative from either Labour or the current National party that is respectful or helpful towards men. Then I encourage voters to find out which parties show any awareness of men’s plight and have male-friendly policies aimed at true gender equality. That is why I am standing as the Tauranga candidate for the Republic of NZ party.

Hi there,

I have some issues around Child Support and wanted to know if there was anyone out there who could offer me some advice.

I have an shared care agreement with my ex 50/50 but are getting stung quite heavily on Child support payments by IRD.

I earn considerably more than my ex but it appears she has reduced her hours of work so the ammount I pay via off setting contines to increase.

My ex and I are also supposed to split all child care costs although I have not recieved any compensation from her in over a year?

What to do?

Bob

From Stuff.

Why not just make unpaid Child Support work the same as unpaid court fines?? Treat them like unpaid fines - clamp the non-paying parents’ cars, seize goods and in the end if they still don’t pay, have them hauled before a judge to be treated like fine defaulters. Put the non-paying parents’ names with debt collecting firms to ensure they no longer get credit to buy their big screen TV etc instead of paying for their own kids.
Mark Miller

Inland Revenue have a possessed toy by the same name, don’t they?