The petition
Ostensibly, the new Georgia child support law was written to narrow the equality gap between custodial and non-custodial parents, the latter being the persistent bearer of the short end. In reality, that gap has widened. Under the new law, non-custodial parents are punished severely for working hard, while the government enables the custodial parent's chronic unemployment. Oddly enough, (in a lot of cases) the non-custodial parent would pay less if the court would take into account his (or her) income alone and not the combined income.
Jurists speak about "the best interests of the child," but that's code for "bend over and kindly take out your wallet". I say, what about the interests of the other children not before the court? That is, a child whom you owe support (due to a previous court order or a general moral obligation) is treated as a deduction in your income calculation and not given the same consideration as the children in the case under immediate review--"I'm sorry, little Timmy, no bike for you, the state says you don't matter and that golf lesson, forget about it”.
Moreover, the new law, as well as the old, uses gross income, instead of net income, in computing obligation. In essence, the government takes money out of my pocket; pays for a patently unfair system of which I'm a victim, then uses the money I never see as a penalty in the state government's illogical legal wonderland.
The main problem stems from the table of numbers that state what payment is to be made based on combined income. The numbers are too high. Where did they get these numbers? I don't know, but I picture a team of monkeys with oversized calculators. The numbers are "presumed" to be the correct amount. Specifically, they are a "rebuttable presumption." In laymen's terms, you better hire an attorney to argue for the deviation--the judge or the agency won't rebut that presumption for you.
Note: Compared to other states (especially in the southeast) Georgia's new law is arguably the worst. Take a look at the law of Tennessee, SC, Mississippi, Alabama etc. Georgia's numbers are much higher.
If you agree, please sign this petition and contact your representative.
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