A father of a 4-year-old girl was paying $1,200 a month in child support. His daughter kept showing up at his house unbathed, in dirty clothes, with no bag.
That is the whole case, right there. $1,200 a month, and the kid still arrived dirty.
The custody had already traveled: 75/25, then 50/50. Then his ex had twins with her fiancé at the beginning of this year. The twins are almost a year old now. The fiancé is gone — they broke up. He has since remarried. And ever since the twins arrived, his daughter became second. Or third, by his count.
His ex said she was stressed with the twins and broke. He asked how she was broke on $1,200 a month. She said one twin has medical issues and the other needs a certain formula, and the money goes fast with groceries. He told her that was not his concern — $1,200 was plenty.
He told her to put the twins’ father on child support. She said he left the country. He looked the man up himself: traveling through Australia.
He asked for an extra week with his daughter. She agreed. The custody order stayed as it was — he didn’t feel the need to go back to court to modify it.
Then, a few months ago, she missed a pickup — she said it was too stressful to put the kids in the car. After the argument that followed, she threatened to get his payments increased because he got a new promotion.
He was mad. So he filed for full physical custody.
And he got it.
His support dropped from $1,200 to $600 — which he calls ridiculous, since she gets their daughter just one weekend now. She is in debt over insurance and prescription prices, and she says he stole their daughter from her because she is poor. People they both know are calling him petty.
His own answer, in his own post: the money wasn’t hurting him. It was the principle. But he is starting to feel bad.
The commenters did not split on this one. Not the asshole, across the board. The twins are not his kids. Their father should pay for them. Support for one child is not support for three.
Source: Someecards roundup of a Reddit AITA thread (https://www.someecards.com/lifestyle/childrearing/using-child-support-on-other-kids/).