Texas Child Support Regulations SUCK!!

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Texas Child Support Regulations SUCK!!

by Adam
(Oklahoma City)

I was never married, never lived with the mother of my son, who lives in Texas. I am in the US Marine Corps and I pay my child support. I don't want a cookie for it. I know that I need to support my child and I do. What is JACKED UP in the Texas Child Support regulations is that when calculating a military servicemembers child support, they include BAH and BAS (housing and food allowance). Lets say for instance, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA. I am a Sergeant (E5) and my housing allowance was approximately $1850, and BAS tapping out at about $325, setting me at $4800/month. Then the military serves me with orders to Oklahoma City, OK where BAH drops by approx %50 and sets me at $918. If the court is taking %20 percent of $4800, that is $960 for 1 child in Texas. Imagine this happens to me 2 months before I get orders to Oklahoma where I am now making $3800 total. The child support payment then would have to be $760 according to this, but I am stuck paying $960 for at least 3 years because as much as the judges in Texas favor the mother like no other, I can't possibly see a judge taking $200 away from the child/mother. Something has to be done about this. BAH and BAS should NOT be calculated because it is non-taxable, non-disposable, and in a lot of cases, the servicemember does not see a dime of the BAH because the base takes every bit of it if you live on base, so they calculate a percentage of money they never see and if they do see it, it is regionally based and fluctuates depending on where you live.

To top this story off, my childs mother could give a crap less about any court order that is in place. She labels me a deadbeat because I was in California for most of the time, and deployed to Iraq for 13 months where the time difference allowed her to play a cat and mouse game on the phone. I would call and she would sometimes answer because it would give a funky area code. She'd learn it was me and tell me that my son wasn't around (even when I could hear him in the background) and tell me to call back in 3 hours when she gets off of "work". I would and no one would answer. This went on for a year. I did not talk to my son ONCE!

The State of Texas will bend over backwards to protect the mother of the kids, but there is NOTHING that protects a father and his rights to see his kids. My sons mother thinks she gets to make the rules based on how she feels about how often I make contact with my son, and this "power" needs to be taken away from her because she abuses it! I live 2 hours away and am easily able to see him, but I still get the cat and mouse game. Then, when I want to watch my son, I get excuses about how they have made plans ON MY WEEKEND OF CUSTODY and I find out that he was left at his grandma's house while she was out partying with her friends.

To all the mothers out there who have to split custody according to the court order, play by the rules. If not, understand that YOU are hurting the child, not us!

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Texas Child Support Regulations SUCK!!

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Advice
by: Anonymous

BAS BAH needs to be based on where the family resided when the child was born. As a e5 in Texas my total bah and BAS was alittle over 1200 then I get station in japan. Overseas I also get COLA "cost of living" allowance due to the high cost of living. Living on base or in BEQ is not an option due to limited housing. Instead of BAH I get OHA same thing but works different. Instead of the rate being a flat rate you only get what the rent is and a pro-rated bills rate. Needless to say 20% of my pay while I was there was 1,535. Regardless I'm here to support my child but that is hard. Now my complaint is why are they basing it on where the military takes you and not the rate where the child was born. Furthermore why don't they include insurance as a deduction? Ya I don't see it coming out of my pay but that is something I work hard to get. Kinda like when I use to job hunt. What is my pay and how much is insurance. Nothing is free. I am an e6 now and finding it hard just to save gas money to see my kid. I live eight hours away so need to provide a place for her to stay aswell. Do they even care anymore or is it all about the mothers?

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Re: but why Posted by Anonymous
by: Adam

The reason I'm (we're) upset about BAH being factored into child support is, again, it is regionally based and fluctuates depending on where you live. And in my case, I moved from California to Oklahoma which cuts your BAH in half and the state of Texas wont review my case for 3 years, so I am looking at paying 20% of a figure that was cut by $1000, and not because I got fired and had to find a better paying job, its because the military (government) decided it was time for me to move.

Like you said, "No other industry gets to exempt housing costs from child support calculations, so I'm not sure why the military should be different". Well, I'll explain why. Not sure if you know, but military servicemembers do not get paid a lot as is. In fact, we get paid so little that the government takes it upon themselves to give us a stipend, or added pay to help us with housing and food. I can't claim it on my taxes because it's not taxable. And in California, good luck finding a house that is appropriately sized for your family on what the government believes is enough. Thats why most servicemembers in California opt to live on base where all of the money that you think should be factored into child support is deposited and then deducted seconds later. We never see it. She is more than welcome to 20% of my earnings, which is MONEY I ACTUALLY EARN, NOT UNTAXED STIPENDS PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT. My family has to have a place to live as well. I have to feed them too, and if I'm paying $960 for 1 child in Texas, TEXAS, mind you, that is ridiculous.

I'm not standing on my soapbox saying that I don't think I should pay anything. I will SUPPORT my child, but the state laws regarding child support could care less if I'm virtually fully funding her living situation. The state doesn't care that she makes too much money to be living in the low-income housing that she's living in. $960 would pay for her rent, car, and groceries and a new outfit or two for my kid, and no, I'm not kidding. Again, not saying I don't want to pay, but the laws and regulations need SERIOUS overhaul.

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but why?
by: Anonymous

Question for you all who are upset about BAH being included. Why are you upset about it being included? It's part of your pay, whether or not you physically receive it. If your BAH goes directly to housing and you don't have to pay a penny in rent, does that not reduce your monthly expense obligations and increase your net income? So then your net income is not an accurate reflection of your true compensation.

The reason why you all often find court rulings to not be in your favor is because you all have a selfish, myopic view. It's one thing if you're living in barracks so your housing is not counted as compensation. It's a totally other thing if you're living in base housing or getting BAH. It seems as if many of you think that it's special just bc it's military pay. When you look at the fact that military families are often eligible for a heap of government assistance programs bc BAH is not taxable, you can consider it a wash. If you're compensated a total of $4000/a month, that's what your child support should be based off of. No other industry gets to exempt housing costs from child support calculations, so I'm not sure why the military should be different.

There is a reason why child support is based on flat percentages with clear guidelines as to what's included. If most noncustodial parents had their choice, child support payments would be less and if most custodial parents had it that way, payments would be more.

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Marine Guy...
by: Anonymous

Marine Guy, you are getting jipped with your child support. I too am from Texas and pay child support for my one daughter but I only pay 20% of my base pay and that is it. They don't tap anything else because it fluctuates and BAH is for you since you have visitation to your child and you need to give her a stable house for her to live in when he/she visits. You had a lazy lawyer that didn't help you out. I am paying 20% of my base pay which is $730 a month. Lots of money but 20% is %20 and I am happy to pay that with no problem.

You might want to go back to court and work that out because I know how much you are living off and that is not much. I guarantee you that you don't have enough money to even pay to visit your child. Do your research and hire a better lawyer and explain to him and the judge that BAH can be taken away at any moment.

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No sympathy for dead beat fathers.
by: Elyse Ford

To all of my father's out there serving who pay their child support, kudos to you.

I am a single mother in the Armed Forces as well. My child's father is in the Armed Forces; we're in two separate branches of service and he outranks me by quite a bit.

Long story short; her father is in the Army.. when I found out I was pregnant I waited to tell him because we were not together and he was deployed. I didn't want to stress him out. When I did let him know about our daughter she was about 6 months old. He was unsure so of course, we did a paternity test w/a private tester. He paid for the test and thus, 99.99999% results came out; he is the biological father.

He was ecstatic at first as was I. We were not together but he expressed an interest in seeing her. I never held her from him and actually encouraged the visits. Then, the Christmas of 2010, he disappeared.

I tried to contact him several times to see our child but he evaded. So, as any mother would; I sought TX state assistance to get the support order started.

We had to establish paternity again because the state does not honor outside testing. So, I started the paperwork. He would not cooperate and never, not once, has sent me a dime. Never.

So, I PCSed to Ohio from TX and was told to re-start my case in OH. I submitted the paperwork 2 months before my PCS to get a head start.

The case worker contacted her father and that blew up in my face. Angry letters, phone calls; and yes, more evasion. He wouldn't comply with the requests and magically, the paperwork got "lost." So, I reestablished the paperwork and spoke directly to the attorney in the Child Support division's office.

So now, this is why I do not have sympathy.

July 2011, over half a year later with this ridiculous charade, her father emails me to tell me he is deploying. He says he will work with the case worker but still continues to do nothing.

The courts made no move to assist and he made no moves to assist.

He deploys; I get his commander involved by showing her the dna results and the regulations on Child Support that are very strict by ARMY standards. She, a full bird COLONEL, orders him to pay. He lies and says he has paid.He agrees that if he misses a payment he will make up for it and sign a letter w/the JAG. He lies again and does nothing of the sort.

I contact said Commander to ask her for assistance; she basically tells me to go to hell.
I could understand if paternity had not been established BY HIM from HIS MONEY...but he has no excuse.

With the paternity test established all he has to do is sign an affidavit stating he KNOWS he is her father.

My mentality: You made the baby with mommy.
I am a Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force; I lost $300 on BAH when I moved from TX to OH. I have never NOT ONCE received a DIME from him or any other person. I work full time and go to school. I pay my own bills and care for my child.

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son held hostage in TX
by: Anonymous

I am in the Army. My kid's mom plays a game with me; every time I get leave and come to TX, she starts a fight with me the day before I see him and uses up 2-5 days to show me her power. I am sick of it. I need to have the courts reign her in, but they are set up to sqeeze the father for money, rather than enforce visitation rights. I pay alot of money to help fund her boyfriend's drinking and steroid needs. 5 more years till I can put this nightmare and evil trailer witch behind me. maybe then I can have some freedom to de-program my boy and let him see that I have payed all support and then some since paternity was established.... A long hard lesson from slummin in the 90's.

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BAH
by: Anonymous

My husband just received modification orders for his child support that he provides for two boys that live with their mother in Texas. My husband is in the Army as well and being station in Chicago where the cost of living is high makes finding housing close to impossible so we choose base housing. The BAH up here is around 1650.00 and we do not see a dime since it goes directly to the housing company. We were told by the Texas AG office that yes he must include it as part of his wages but then we were advised to show where it is taken out on his LES and that we do not see it. I have been told by another family in Texas that the court counted it as income only when person lived off base. Not sure if this is true or not. My husband asked the AG office to get the location of the rules stating the BAH is included as income and they said it is in the Family Code, well I have looked and can not locate it. Good luck to all.

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Bah and Bas
by: Anonymous

My husband was having the same issue regarding Bah and Bas , get a memorandum stating they cant from legal! federal law overule state law

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Contempt of court for denying you visitations
by: Anonymous

Adam, if you have a court order that says that you have visitation rights and she doesnt let you see him send her a letter days before you suppost to get him saying you need to have the child ready by that day. I had the same situation with my husband child mother. She thinks she can do whatever she wants to and denied visitation as much as she want to. my husband is in the army and we are going trough the same situation they want to get BAS and BAH but anyhow, financial support doesnt have nothing to do with your rights she can loose custody for that. we planned to go to FL this summer and she was refusing for us to take him so I called the general attorney office they have a hotline for dads and you get to talk to lawyers for free and they go trought your visitations rights with. we were told by them to send her a letter that we will pick him up by the 15 if she refused you can filed contempt of court and she can go to jail for 90 days and fines and possibly loose custody of course a soon as she recieved it she called bitching but in the work out because she knows she can be in a lot trouble...call this number 800 2528014 they will let you know what to do and also go to texaslawhelp.com and you will find the contempt form you can fill it out by youserlf and send it. keep all you records, letter, voicemails, send everything by certified mail and youll se how her actitud will change...unfortunaly, some woman are just awful :)

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It should not include BAS and BAH
by: Anonymous

Yes i agree it sucks. Im a E5 in the Army. Going through a divorce and the state of Texas has the done the same to me.
BAH and BAS should not be touched. After all, you need to live and eat also. The mother needs to take responsibility on food for children as well. Because when you get the kids. You already done gave there mother a good chunk of your BAS and you still need to feed yourself and the kids at your place. Its bullshit. Then you need to lower your standards of living on top of that. And your kids are stuck sleeping in your room or living room when they come over because you cant afford a two or three bedroom house or apartment.

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Make over for the ATTORNEY GENERAL
by: Anonymous

I am sorry that there are some women out there like that.

My story is i got pregnant and had my son at 18, the attorney general got involved because I was recieving medicaid. The father of my child left me when i was 7 months pregnant, so i had no other choice. Anyways they started a child support case , even after i begged them to just leave it alone , i could take care of my son on my own. Well they took us back and forth to court for the first 3 years of my sons life. They had established a child support order and it was fir the father of my son to pay $140.00 a month because he lied to them and told them he did not have a job. They had failed to run is ssn to find out before court. Even with that low payment he refused to pay. Here it is 9 years later and I am still taking care of my child myself and the ag is barely tracking him down, then they tell me if i dont cooperate with them they will suspend my dl. I dont want his money but am forced to go back and forth to court.

My current husbands story...he has a 6 year old daughter from his ex and he was the only one supporting her and the mother goes and files child support on him after she ran off with a few other men. Being the honest man that he is he goes to the child support review where the person working the case attacks him left and right and does not give him an option to hire a lawyer and basically forces him to sign the child support order for a high amount then also tells him that he must obtain medical insurance through his employer and the worker tells him dont worry it should cost you about $80 a month to put your daughter on. WRONG ITS$300. but yet she still does not calculate the $80 in the support.
Current time .he has visitation with his daughter and she comes to us with clothes that dont fit , shoes that cause blisters. But when we pick her up her mom ***that does not work*** has her nails and hair done and expensive clothes on.On top of that she is getting tatoos and more. Then to top it off she has married a sex offender a few months ago with out telling my husband. He calls the ag and they tell him there is nothing they can do to help him, he needs a private attorney. Then we have his daughter for spring break and the mother goes to jail and we still have the child almost a month later and had to pay alot of money to put her in school here , but yet he still paying child support , then he calls the ag and tells them whats going on and they tell him he has to wait 6 months to stop the child support. I dont understand why the system is so messed up. I am sorry if there are alot of mistakes in this message but it just makes me and i am typing fast to try and remember everything that needs to be said.

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Texas Child Support Regulations SUCK!!

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Texas Child Support Regulations SUCK!!