Child Support

Question:

I would like to know how the child support title 4D program is able to get around the 38 USC 3101 garnish program. This is very perplexing to me because state government has no authority over the United States Government.

 

Jim's Reply:

I'm not at all sure what relationship the legal references you make have to do with child support? I have to be honest with you...the law is complex, really really complex and lawyers go to school for years and years and study hard to learn the nuances of the fine print that is the law. 

Lay persons who go into studying odds and ends of the law sometimes carry a bias...like not wanting to pay child support...and that makes it all harder to understand. It's no wonder that what you've found is perplexing to you since you don't have the foundation to understand the details.

I'm in the same boat as you, I'm not a lawyer and often enough the law makes no sense to me. That's why I'm an advocate...I leave the law to the lawyers. Practicing law is a bit like engineering in that you may have to build a sturdy bridge to close a gap. Given some time and energy many of us could build some semblance of that bridge, but would you want to drive your car across it? 

I'm divorced and like you, an onerous alimony and child support burden seemed wrong back then. After years of living with it and coming to understand why the system works like it does I can offer a couple of tips.

VA disability money is counted in divorce settlements. VA disability money is intended to replace the money you would earn if not for your disability and that money would be on the table if you weren't a disabled vet so...VA disability money is rightly counted as income by the court.

The money is not garnished by the court, it's factored as a part of overall income...there's a difference.

Once you finish that degree at Georgetown you can tell me about state's rights v. the feds. Until then, accept that if you are ordered to pay child support you must pay it. I did for well over a decade, just as I should have.

It's the right thing to do and you'll be a better person for it.