| The child support guidelines, the mathematical formula designed to insure that custodial parents receive enough money from non-custodial parents have not kept up with the times. I am certainly no mathematician, but I am seeing some decidedly weird results recently which make no sense to me. A father with equal custody ordered to pay over $1,100.00 a month to the mother who chooses not to work. At the same time, a mother with 80% custody receives $200.00 per month because she chooses to work hard and the father chooses not to work at all.
My theory on why this is happening centers on the age of the guideline formula. It was developed in the 1980's when gas was $1 a galleon and most children were in the custody of mothers. The guidelines have not kept up with either inflation or the modern blended family. As a result, it has become obsolete.
The only answer is to give judicial officers more discretion. Family income, not just individual income should be taken into account when setting support. Judges should have the ability to adjust support so that one side of a child's blended family doesn't suffer while the other side prospers. | 
