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The Law And Economics Of Child Support Payments

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This is a book for people who are serious about child support law and economics; whether they practice family law, perform analyses in family economics, fiddle with family politics, or in any way wish to engage family issues at a serious academic level. If you're only buying one book on family policy this year - this is the one that I recommend. Nothing has changed family policy or the family as profoundly as child support reform. Everything you've been led to believe about the subject is wrong.

The analysis in Law and Economics of Child Support Payments starts with an honest question. The creation of an overwhelmingly powerful bureaucracy and many many billions of taxpayer dollars spent on enforcement has had no effect on compliance rates. Why? The experts assembled to address the question are not the usual collection of guideline consultants that clutter the literature in support of the current system (and more government consulting contracts).

An example is Arizona State University professor Sanford Braver. Dr. Braver performed the largest (federally funded) study of divorced fathers in history. His book, "Divorced Dads: Shattering the Myths," resulted from that study. Published in 1998, it remains one of the most powerful antidotes to the myth of the "deadbeat dad" created by child support politics and the collection industry. Another is Washington D.C. based attorney, Ronald K. Henry. To my knowledge, Mr. Henry first entered the debate with contributions to an amicus curiae brief in Fitzgerald v Fitzgerald, 566 A.2d 719 (DC 1989). The DC Court of Appeals found the DC guidelines unconstitutional because they conflicted with (traditional "for support of children") child support law written by the D.C. Council. Much of the detailed opinion by the court agrees with Mr. Henry's views and still today stands as a primer on the problem of using child support guidelines.

The myths surrounding the child support issue have had a profound effect on beliefs about the family. Family law has undergone fundamental changes as a result; actually effecting the definition of family and basic family rights. This book provides a broad treatment of the law and economics of child support; including underlying assumptions of common models, analysis of economic incentives, the impact of child support on standard of living, unintended consequences of child support policy, family relationships, and child delinquency.