Tiny Steps for Missouri Dads
May 5th, 2009 by Robert Franklin, Esq.Two fathers' rights bills have passed the Missouri Legislature and are headed to the governor for his signature. They're small steps, but they're in the right direction. Read about them here (StLToday, 4/29/09).
One sets up special child support courts to deal with arrearage issues. The bill's intention is to keep men out of jail who can't pay due to unemployment, substance abuse problems and the like. It aims to steer men toward job training and opportunities as well as GED programs.
I've long argued for special masters and summary procedures to deal with child support issues, particularly modifications based on changed circumstances like loss of a job or a health crisis. These special courts look at least something like what I've been advocating, with the bonus that they will try to get obligors into employment and training. More importantly, the bill aims to get fathers involved in the lives of their children. Gatekeeping mothers may not like that, but that's one of the goals, nevertheless.
The serious downside to the first bill is that it makes it a crime to miss 12 child support payments over a lifetime. What it means to "miss" a payment the article doesn't define. If a parent owes $400 per month and pays $399 one month per year for twelve years, does he/she go to jail?
The second allows men two years to contest paternity via genetic testing once they've received notice that they've been named as the father of a child. The current law in Missouri gives them only 2 months.
From what the article suggests, it appears that notice to the father of a paternity claim will have to be delivered to the man by hand and be written in easy-to-understand language. That's a huge change from the practice of "notice" being published in the newspaper, which then become grounds for a default judgment being taken against the unsuspecting man.
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