Fights about child support can harm children

On behalf of Furr & Cohen, P.A. posted in Child Support on Friday, July 18, 2014.

When parents get divorced, they sometimes try to keep the kids in the loop about what is going on. While this can be a good idea so the kids know what to expect throughout the process, there are instances in which cluing the kids in can actually harm the children. Florida residents might like to know how letting kids know about child support problems might cause issues.

Some people might think that children would get upset knowing that a parent isn’t paying child support. What might surprise some people is that children might get upset that the receiving parent actually wants or needs the child support. In this case, the child might side with the parent who owes child support instead of worrying about how the lack of child support is affecting the family.

Some children don’t want custodial parents to get the court involved in the child support issue. In those instances, the child might not want the non-custodial parent to get into trouble over the nonpayment.

It is interesting to note that parents who are involved with the children are more likely to pay child support. The same study by the U.S. Census Bureau that confirmed that also showed that the number of custodial parents who are having to seek intervention from government agencies for child support issues seems to be going downward.

In 2012, 26.1 percent of custodial parents had to seek this type of help from government entities. That number is down significantly from the 42.2 percent noted in 1994.

Any parent who is going through divorce and child support issues knows how stressful these times can be. It is important to remember that knowing your rights can help you to reduce your stress so that it doesn’t affect the children as much.

Source: Jacksonville.com, “The Color of Money: Parents should leave kids out when fighting about child support” Michelle Singletary, Jul. 12, 2014