Man Suggests A New Way To Approach Child Support: Give Everyone A Card To Track Spending
“Everything and anything that has to do with supporting the child is going to go onto this card.”
There’s not much that’s fun about divorce or separation. And when children are involved, things can get way more complicated. Custody, child support, alimony, parenting disagreements, the logistics of managing multiple schedules: it’s all challenging under the best of circumstances. And, of course, this is all generally being handled by two people who had difficulty seeing eye-to-eye in the first place. So it’s no wonder that things can quickly become acrimonious, especially when it comes to money.
One such instance comes from a stitched TikTok from JayDee Milo (@jaydee_milo), which features a man suggesting: “Child support should be put on a card where the father can see what the money is being spent on.”
An intriguing thought! And Milo offers expanding that concept to make things even more fair.
“I like your idea of a card, and f*ck child support altogether,” he says. “But instead of putting the $87 of child support onto this card, the balance on the first of the month is going to be zero. The primary parent is going to use this card all month for all child expenses. Everything. Everything and anything that has to do with supporting the child is going to go onto this card. Because at the end of the month we’re going to reconcile the full amount, we’re going to split that in half, and we’re going to send you a bill for 50% of all charges accrued from the first day of the month to the last.”
The average amount of child support one pays varies wildly depending on how many children it’s going towards, your income, custody agreements, and state. A 2019 study found the precise number owed can vary from a median payment of about $1,100 a month to just over $400 a month. And that’s assuming custodial parents receive those payments, which they often don’t. But let’s say one gets everything they’re owed, and let’s even say they’re in a New England state, which has the highest average child support payments: the average there is around $1,000. The average cost of daycare in, say Massachusetts, is approximately $1,700 per child. That’s just daycare to say nothing of clothes, food, medical bills, extracurricular activities, school supplies, etc.
In short: the hypothetical credit card system could leave a lot of non-custodial parents paying far more than a judge ever ordered them to.
“It sounds like you want to keep things fair,” Milo continues. “You want to make sure that what you’re paying is going toward the child, right? This method does that and more. Keeps it clean, keeps it recorded, and most of all keeps it fair. [You’re] willing to watch the card, but not the kids. When you worry more about the $87 a month in child support that you pay more than your actual child, that’s when we know we’re dealing with a real deadbeat. You want receipts so bad? I’m going to lobby for this method. Let’s go, Congress! Who’s ready to sign the petition. I’ll send it to you first, because I know how serious you are about the card method. I love it!”
The comments section was chock-full-o-enthusiastic signees...
“I had a friend whose ex demanded receipts,” writes one. “The judge agreed for her to keep the receipts for the next 60 days. She literally kept every receipt. Child support went from $120 a month to $375.”
You love to see it.
“My ex thinking he’s personally funding a trip to Fiji for me,” laments another. “Bruh, it barely covers the groceries.”
“Our judge said ‘You are technically paying her back, because she already covered your end,’” recounts another.
So yeah, we’re all for giving this new system a go. Because the original poster is right: more often than not, child support payments aren’t fair at all. And some parents need their eyes opened to how much money is going towards their kids...
