Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania
Child Support vs Extortion
The title may sound a bit harsh, however....Lets say 2 people irresponsibly conceive a child. The father does not want a child, so he offers to pay for an abortion. The mother says she cannot do that. Thats fine. So the father suggests putting the child up for adoption, which the mother also refuses to do. The kicker is that there is a huge difference in class between the two people. The fairly poor womoan sees the fairly well off guy as her way to a better life if she can only have his child. We have all heard the story before and we wont get into all of the details, but suffice it to say that after the deed has been done, it becomes apparent to the guy that this was her purpose all along, to impregnate herself into a free ride. She tells him ''I am going to have this child, and you are going to pay me child support''. What options does the guy have?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Child Support vs Extortion
You asked about child support for an unplanned child.
You mistake the principle of child support. The goal of the child support obligation is for the benefit of the child. If the custodial parent were to predecease the child then the obligation would remain, and in fact should increase. If the custodial parent abandoned the child then the custodial obligation would remain (and again would probably increase).
The public policy of child support is 1) the child should not be penalized for the choices or desires of its parents, 2) the biological parents must be held financially responsible to minimize use of public resources in the care of a child, and 3) the child is due the reasonable resources of both parents.
You are in for a store of surprise. If you are part of the child's life most of those surprises will be happy. You will happily pay for the private schools to which the child is entitled by having a well off parent. You will happily entertain the child's wishes. You will happily pay for college and a nice wedding. Or, you can begrudgingly be ordered by the court to pay larger and larger amounts of child support, which will include mandatory payment for private schools, and probably full tuition through college.
In this circumstance, child support will serve the most basic function for which it was created. It will promote the best interests of the child by ensuring the living standards of the mother.
In the end, there is a child on the Earth because of you and to whom you are inextricably related. You can choose to not be an emotional part of the child's life but you will not have a choice about being a part of the fiscal responsibility for the child. To make any arguments otherwise would prove that the child is not the only bastard in the picture.
You should hire two attorneys to negotiate a support agreement. One attorney should represent you and the other should represent the mother/child. I would also suggest that the more aggressive attorney of the two should represent the mother.
Regards,
Roger
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