I can’t get over this because it is so extremely unjust to the kids. Their money is being misappropriated. Stolen. It is up to Greg to make sure that people charged with the care of this kids don’t steal from them.
The facts are, as admitted in court documents by Susan: Her boyfriend lives in the household, has no income and contributes $0 to the household. Susan has 3 other kids whose father is in prison, therefore paying no support.
Let’s do the math:
8 people in the household with their income: Susan + 3 younger kids ($700 in welfare), Boyfriend ($0), Greg’s 3 kids ($2,500)
Greg pays $2,500 which is meant for the 3 kids. That is $833.33 meant for the benefit of each child.
Susan and the 3 younger kids get $700 in welfare (Note: I believe that most or all of the welfare is in the form of food stamps) = $175 per person
Add it all together: $2,500 + $700 = $3,200 / 8 people = $400 per person in the household.
$833.33 - $400 = $433.33 <----- This is the amount of money belonging to Greg’s children that is being “stolen” each month.
(Note: I acknowledge that there may be an adjustment needed to account for the welfare but it’s beyond my math skills, so if anyone could help, I’d appreciate it.)
No matter which way you slice and dice it, at the very least, Susan’s boyfriend is being supported by Greg’s kids’ money. That is wrong on so many levels.
Susan is the “fiduciary” or “trustee” or “custodian” of her sons’ money. It is her duty to not misappropriate this support. She may not be held accountable by the law for what she is doing, but she is seriously morally and ethically wrong.
Just because the law does not exist in California to force Susan to account for how she is using/misusing her sons’ money, doesn’t mean it’s not wrong or that there may someday be such a law. In fact, this law does exist in 11 states, where the parent paying child support can request an accounting. If more parents who are being taken advantage of, like Greg, spoke out about this, and got the word out, more states could pass laws to address these types of issues.
I acknowledge that there is no good way to realistically audit these situations. I can’t reasonably expect Susan to not feed her 3 younger kids the same as her 3 older kids. Or to make them live in the garage while Greg’s kids get the master suite. But I can expect her not to use the money to support her boyfriend, and herself. And I expect our legislators to come up with some sort of viable solution to address this issue. Laws aren’t always easy to make, but that our lawmakers’ job. Somehow the government has come up a way to ensure we all pay our “fair share” in taxes, etc, so they should be able to address this.