- Second wives worse off
- By Paula Beauchamp
- The Herald Sun
- 21/11/2003 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 75 articles in 2003 )
CHILD support number crunching is tearing second families apart, family law specialists say.
And some second wives are better off leaving their husbands. Geelong Community Legal Service solicitor Elsie Stokie said the child support formula typically allocated more money to the children of divorce than for children from second marriages.
"In most cases the amounts (for all children) only equal if the second wife leaves her husband," she said.
Phil, a dad from the eastern suburbs, was paying $13,500 a year for two boys from his first marriage when his eldest daughter from the second marriage was born.
His payments dropped to $11,000.
"It meant my first two boys were worth $5500 and my daughter was worth $2500," he said.
"We were struggling financially so I asked CSA to equal the payments for all three kids." When CSA refused, Phil became a stay-at-home dad and his wife went back to work.
Phil now pays the child support minimum for his first two kids -- $260 a year. "I didn't want that outcome," he said. "I just wanted to pay the same for all three kids."
Westminster Lawyers solicitor Paul Le Moing-Ross said second wives often felt outraged.
"It's a case of 'my children are worth less than the children from the first marriage'. I hear this a lot," he said.
CSA spokeswoman Catherine Argall said the amount of the "rebate" for a child of a second marriage has nothing to do with any notional value of the children.
"That argument ignores that children of the new relationship share in the payer's disposable income that children from the first family don't get," Ms Argall said.
And some second wives are better off leaving their husbands. Geelong Community Legal Service solicitor Elsie Stokie said the child support formula typically allocated more money to the children of divorce than for children from second marriages.
"In most cases the amounts (for all children) only equal if the second wife leaves her husband," she said.
Phil, a dad from the eastern suburbs, was paying $13,500 a year for two boys from his first marriage when his eldest daughter from the second marriage was born.
His payments dropped to $11,000.
"It meant my first two boys were worth $5500 and my daughter was worth $2500," he said.
"We were struggling financially so I asked CSA to equal the payments for all three kids." When CSA refused, Phil became a stay-at-home dad and his wife went back to work.
Phil now pays the child support minimum for his first two kids -- $260 a year. "I didn't want that outcome," he said. "I just wanted to pay the same for all three kids."
Westminster Lawyers solicitor Paul Le Moing-Ross said second wives often felt outraged.
"It's a case of 'my children are worth less than the children from the first marriage'. I hear this a lot," he said.
CSA spokeswoman Catherine Argall said the amount of the "rebate" for a child of a second marriage has nothing to do with any notional value of the children.
"That argument ignores that children of the new relationship share in the payer's disposable income that children from the first family don't get," Ms Argall said.
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