Custody and Child Support Paper

A major issue we currently face in not only in my community of North Carolina but as a nation as a whole is the courts unjustified rulings in custody, child support, and health insurance. Through personal experiences and research, I have found that the courts favor mothers 9 out of 10 times regardless of their ability to properly care and support their children.The amount of child support differs for fathers and mothers and that the courts mandate fathers to put and keep health insurance on their hillier where the mothers are almost never not mandated to. In the next few paragraphs, I will highlight these key points in the following to support my claims as well as include some personal experiences.

Statistically, 95 percent of mothers receive custody of their children. Though the nation still strives for equality, the courts seem to be still biased and feel that the children are better off with their mothers over their fathers.Only 3 out of every 20 fathers in the state of North Carolina has received custody of their children and of those fathers fortunate enough o have beat the system, only 3% of them will receive child support from the non- custodial mother which amounts to 9 out of every 2,000. In 2002, William Hill of Smithfield, NC, a family friend, finally gained custody of his children after going to court multiple times for custody. His children's mother dropped them off one night at his doorstep and vanished.

She finally called about one year later demanding the kids back. Mr..Hill refused to give her the children and filed for full custody after learning that she was on drugs and was on the run from her drug dealer boyfriend. When the case was brought in front of the court, they ruled in favor of the mother the first two times feeling that given the ability to be a mother would help rehabilitate her and help to keep her clean and away from drugs.

Mr.. Hill was not happy with the ruling and after battling the court system for 2 years he was awarded custody of the children becoming the first father in Johnston County, NC to ever be granted full custody over a mother. Is this right? Is this Justice?Should children be placed with their mother if she cannot support, care, or keep the children out of harm's way? In y opinion, I feel if the father can better provide, care, support, and keep the children out of harm's way then custody should be rewarded to him. Not all mothers are fit to care and raise their kids and the courts need to start seeing this and look at the whole picture and not Just the fact that the mother gave birth to the child or children. Besides the unbiased of the courts to rule in favor of mothers regardless of the circumstances for custody, there is also a significant discrepancy with child support as well.

Fathers statistically pay a higher amount of child support compared to women even if both parents have the same income. Based off the North Carolina 2013 child support statistics, fathers pay between 20% - 25% of their paycheck to child support for one child and 40% - 50% for two. When we take a closer look at this, a father working a minimum wage Job would earn $1 ,480. 00 a month before taxes. After you take out the 20%-25% for child support, this amounts to between $296.

00 - $370. 00 a month for one child and if we used the same income for two children, the father would be paying between $592. 0 - $740. 00 a month.

This also does not include the state mandated 8 percent support increase after the first six months after paying child support, the health insurance mandated by the courts that all fathers regardless of custody need to pay, as well as other support the court might deem necessary. How is a father supposed to live and support himself or even try and fight for custody of his children if he can barely afford to support himself due to the amount of support he is required to pay? As everyone knows, there are always two sides to every story.The other side to this one is the amount that a mother should have to pay if she should not be granted custody and the court feels she must ay child support which as you read above happens very seldom. When we look at how much support a mother would have to pay, their support percentages are lower than the fathers to where they will pay between 13% - 15% for one child and 26% - 30%. This is a difference of between 7% - 20% all based on the sex of the parent. Using the same monthly income as above for the mother, this would mean that she is paying between $192.

00 - $222. 00 a month for one child and $384. 80 - $444. 0 a month for two children. Additionally, the courts do not mandate a woman to pay health insurance on her children in NC. When asked why such a difference between fathers and mothers, the child support agency and the court system states that a male is more capable of getting a higher paying Job and he is more able to work more than one Job then a women.

In 2012, a close friend of mine filed court papers to establish child support against his ex-girlfriend. It took multiple times to achieve this but when he finally got the court to rule in his favor she only had to pay 13 percent of her gross pay and insurance was denied.The courts stated that her being a woman paying child support that she would not be able to live paying 13% percent of her ay, pay health insurance, and pay her bills. He was informed that he had to put health insurance on the children if he wishes them to have it.

The courts will in some cases place child support on a mother if she has placed the children in harm's way or if the father doesn't give up trying to establish child support on the mother and the courts get tired of dealing with it. Even then, the amount a mother has to pay is different than that of the father's as we have seen above.Are these fair and equal rights? Is this Justice? Is this the way our court system should function? In my pinion, it takes two to make a baby, and it should take two to support a baby equally and fairly. In today's economy, a woman is Just as capable as a man to work two Jobs, and they have begun to earn the same if not more than a man depending on the In conclusion, you can see from above that the court system favor occupation. Women in a number of ways.

Mothers are not always the best parent to be given full custody to and in a lot of cases; the father is Just as good if not a better parent.The courts need to start looking at the facts or the situation and not Just the sex of the arenas to determine who should be granted custody due to being a more suitable parent. There are a lot of great fathers out there that Just want what is best for their children. Furthermore, child support should be placed on which ever parent that is absent from the children's home and it should be the same amount whether male or female. If the income of the mother is the same as the father, they should pay the same amount. It is unfair and unjust for the father to be paying between 7%- 20% more than the mother based solely on sex.

The same principle should be applied to lath insurance such that if a man can be mandated to pay for it than a mother should be as well and it shouldn't be an unspoken rule of the courts to never mandate a mother to pay for insurance on her children. In my opinion, the courts in the nation as a whole are broken when it comes to child custody and support. The laws need a complete overhaul, and it is something that needs to be pushed from the federal government. Women, throughout the years, have fought for equal rights to vote, to the right to equal paying Jobs as it benefited them but when it comes to equality for men it is overlooked by all.If the country wants to be equal, they should act on it and not Just state it.