# Child support amounts are grossly unfair **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 10, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478 "2014-06-10T16:06:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478/241 "2014-10-17T18:04:23Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I don’t think you can classify as “work” if one person of a couple is spending time with the kid. Presumably, that person is getting something out of it too. That’s kind of amusing coming from someone who talks about how parents should get to start over by abandoning their children. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478/242 "2014-10-17T18:30:13Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I don’t think you can classify as “work” if one person of a couple is spending time with the kid. Presumably, that person is getting something out of it too. Taking your kid out to the park, staying at home watching TV with him, or just putting him to bed then going to sleep in another room is not work that anyone should be paid for. And yet, my nanny still wants to be paid. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478/243 "2014-10-17T21:18:47Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > That’s kind of amusing coming from someone who talks about how parents should get to start over by abandoning their children. Try not to add things to what I said. I said that divorce from a significant other along with nominal payments for child care should be allowed, no one can or should force anyone to spend time with another person who they are not a guardian of. The children aren’t abandoned like in a shoebox on someone’s porch, they are given to someone who wants them to be taken care of, similar to giving up a kid for adoption unless you’re against that too. After satisfying her parental obligations through these payments, a parent should be able to seek other people as family or choose not to spend any time in close proximity or contact with her kids > [@even\_sven](#): > > And yet, my nanny still wants to be paid. Does your nanny insist on people paying her for spending time with her own kids? And if no payments are forthcoming, does she simply leave the kids? If both of those answers are no, then you may understand why its silly for a parent to demand to be paid to spend time with his own kids. The payment should be a for a caregiver who needs to be there in lieu of the parent (presumably at a job or something). Nobody should get paid for just spending time with their kid cause they’ll do that anyway, voluntarily, without payment ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478/244 "2014-10-17T21:28:11Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I said that divorce from a significant other along with nominal payments for child care should be allowed, no one can or should force anyone to spend time with another person who they are not a guardian of. In lieu of being forced to spend time, they are forced to spend money while someone else spends the time. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478/245 "2014-10-17T21:34:14Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Nobody should get paid for just spending time with their kid cause they’ll do that anyway, voluntarily, without payment Except, you know, THE NON-CUSTODiAL PARENT WHO ISN’T SPENDING TIME WITH THEIR KIDS. It’s pretty damn easy to say “changing diapers is its own reward!” when you have someone else to do it for you. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478/246 "2014-10-17T21:36:47Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Does your nanny insist on people paying her for spending time with her own kids? And if no payments are forthcoming, does she simply leave the kids? If both of those answers are no, then you may understand why its silly for a parent to demand to be paid to spend time with his own kids. **If two people agree to be parents together, they’re agreeing to share the labor, the cost and the time that will be expended to look after their kid(s).** They may choose to divide each of those components right down the middle, or they may come up with some other mutually-agreed-upon way of dividing them. **But if they divorce, each of them still owes _to the kid(s)_ one-half of that total labor, cost and time.** If one parent is not going to put in any of the labor or time required for childcare after the divorce, then it’s only fair for her to pay her ex-spouse, the custodial parent, for picking up the slack. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478/247 "2014-10-17T22:32:23Z")
In short: You don’t owe your custodial-parent ex-spouse payment for doing **their own** half of the childcare. You owe them payment for doing **your** half of the childcare. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478/248 "2014-10-22T14:20:17Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Heck, here’s [the calculator](http://www.state.sc.us/dss/csed/calculator.htm). But even in SC, the guidelines for calculation only work up to a combined income of both parents of $360k. When it is higher, child support will be evaluated on a case by case basis by a judge. This would tend to support the OP’s assertion that there is a finite amount of CS that should be awarded otherwise the calculator would just keep going up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support-amounts-are-grossly-unfair/690478.md?page=12)