Texas to Tie Car Registration Renewal to Child Support

[the game]

idk I don't think this is something that the state should be doing. Yes the dead beat dad should be paying child support. But should the DMV have the authority to step in like this?

The Texas Attorney General's Office has found a new way to punish parents who are behind on child support payments: blocking their vehicle registration renewal.

The agency plans to employ the new tool beginning this fall against parents who haven't paid child support for at least six months. The attorney general's office is already able to revoke driver's, professional or recreational licenses of evaders, but the agency said adding vehicle registration should shore up compliance.

"We're going to use every tool that we can to collect support that is due to children and families, and that's why this initiative is being pursued," said Janece Rolfe, a spokeswoman for the Child Support Division, in an interview last week.

[Underverse]

If it's law, it should be enforced. This will help the law to be enforced.

Maybe the law should be changed, but while it is what it is we should be trying to make sure that it's fully implemented.

[the game]

If it's law, it should be enforced. This will help the law to be enforced.

Maybe the law should be changed, but while it is what it is we should be trying to make sure that it's fully implemented.

do you feel the same way about marijuana laws?

[Endus]

I don't really see the issue. Child support is a legal arrangement the state enforces. I don't really have an issue with the state requiring that people balance the accounts on their obligations before granting them voluntary privileges.

Particularly when they're paying for those privileges. That money should be going to their child support payments, first.

The ONE exception I could see to ask for lenience is if they have a new job and need the vehicle for that job, but that's a temporary clemency thing. A "we'll give you a 6-month temporary registration, but you'll need to start settling up by then to get it renewed for good".

[Allerius]

If it's law, it should be enforced. This will help the law to be enforced.

Maybe the law should be changed, but while it is what it is we should be trying to make sure that it's fully implemented.

Are they going to make child support money accountable so that it can be proven that it's both needed and goes to the child? No? Then expect evasion to continue until you tackle to actual problem.

[Endus]

Are they going to make child support money accountable so that it can be proven that it's both needed and goes to the child? No? Then expect evasion to continue until you tackle to actual problem.

They already have laws for stuff like that, requiring parents to provide for their children and not neglect them. If that's happening, despite your child support payments, you've got grounds to sue for primary custody, if you've got evidence to support it.

If you don't WANT custody, then I really don't see that you've got any real room to complain.

[Vyxn]

I feel men should be given the same right that women have when it comes to the decision of wanting to have a baby or not
a man should be given the opportunity to be able to "abort" his responsibility of having a child the same as a women is allowed to do

[Underverse]

do you feel the same way about marijuana laws?

Yes. Change the law if you don't agree with it. But laws should be enforced as long as they are the laws of the land. Otherwise you have inconsistency.

There are many laws that I don't agree with that I think should be enforced while they still exist.

[Flarelaine]

I don't think it hurts if the state helps mothers a bit and does not allow "fathers" to escape their obligations. Denying car registration is actually pretty mild.

(As a comparison, in Hungary, where I live, mothers can ask the bloody Tax Office to just fucking collect if the father is even one payment behind and Tax Office can then collect directly from the employer, deducting it from the father's salary. No, I'm not saying this is right, because they do it mercilessly without asking the father if he has an excuse. I've avoided this so far simply because I always pay on time and my ex is actually not that mean, but the system is pretty ridiculous.)

[Dug]

Should be looked at on a case by case basis. If the father isn't making payments cause he's unemployed and looking for work then not having a car would be a serious hindrance. On principle though I don't disagree with it.

[Underverse]

Are they going to make child support money accountable so that it can be proven that it's both needed and goes to the child? No? Then expect evasion to continue until you tackle to actual problem.

If there are cases where the mother (for example) is spending the money she receives from child support to buy herself a thousand pairs of shoes, then there should exist laws to combat this. I would support these laws. But that's not really what this thread is about; this thread is about enforcement of an existing law.

[Endus]

I feel men should be given the same right that women have when it comes to the decision of wanting to have a baby or not
a man should be given the opportunity to be able to "abort" his responsibility of having a child the same as a women is allowed to do

That's not remotely what abortion is, or is about, so what you're really asking for is a special right just for men, exclusively, which is a garbage idea.

Both genders have the same rights already.

[Scyclone]

I feel men should be given the same right that women have when it comes to the decision of wanting to have a baby or not
a man should be given the opportunity to be able to "abort" his responsibility of having a child the same as a women is allowed to do

I agree, they should be allowed to fill out a notarized document, aborting their responsibility leading up to a certain point prior to the birth of the child. A secondary clause entered in the event that the child born is not their child to begin with. I do also believe there should be mandatory DNA tests for legal purposes.

[Underverse]

I feel men should be given the same right that women have when it comes to the decision of wanting to have a baby or not
a man should be given the opportunity to be able to "abort" his responsibility of having a child the same as a women is allowed to do

Maybe, within a certain time period and accounting for loss of value the further along the fetus is. As in, if a father wants to abort financial support 8 months in, he will still have to pay something because the cost of carrying the fetus to term is so high, and the alternative cost of getting an abortion is also high.

But, if it's within the first month when the cost of abortion (financially, physically, mentally) is relatively low then I could see male child support being at least reduced (maybe not entirely eliminated though).

[SL1200]

If someone can't get to work they can't pay child support. They do the same thing in Illinois, but they take your driver's License.

[Underverse]

That's not remotely what abortion is, or is about, so what you're really asking for is a special right just for men, exclusively, which is a garbage idea.

Both genders have the same rights already.

How so? Men being forced to pay for something against their will is a violation of bodily autonomy. But I might be misunderstanding your equivalence?

[Allerius]

They already have laws for stuff like that, requiring parents to provide for their children and not neglect them. If that's happening, despite your child support payments, you've got grounds to sue for primary custody, if you've got evidence to support it.

If you don't WANT custody, then I really don't see that you've got any real room to complain.

Just because the child isn't being neglected doesn't mean the money is necessarily going to support the child. A lot of times the "child support" is going towards buying the mother a new car and there's no legal recourse because there's no accountability of where the money actually goes.

If there are cases where the mother (for example) is spending the money she receives from child support to buy herself a thousand pairs of shoes, then there should exist laws to combat this. I would support these laws. But that's not really what this thread is about; this thread is about enforcement of an existing law.

One of the biggest reasons people don't pay child support is because their money is going to waste to buy useless crap for the other parent. There are plenty of legal consequences already and this won't help enforcement nor make the law any better.

[Xandrigity]

Sounds like a great idea.

[Scyclone]

That's not remotely what abortion is, or is about, so what you're really asking for is a special right just for men, exclusively, which is a garbage idea.

Both genders have the same rights already.

Thats bullshit and you know it.

If a man wants a child, and the woman doesn't. The woman can get an abortion against the man's wishes, because it is her body/her right, #empowerment

If a woman wants a child, and the man doesn't. The woman gives birth and the man is forced into a financial prison sentence of 18 years. #equality

Sorry, but there should be a legal way for a man to choose not to be a father, just as a woman can choose to not become a mother.

If the document has a cost to it, that is fine. We know abortions aren't free.

In either case, if men had a legal right to protect themselves in a situation like this, you would have far less fatherless children in the world. Because there would be less children being born in general, and the children being born will be born to at least one (or more) parents that actually desire and are willing to raise them.

Also, before you make a mention of "should have used protection" etc etc. Condoms break, spermicide doesn't always work, pull out method is flawed, periods could potentially end before sperm dies, woman could insert sperm into herself from several sources, or ultimately the child could be SOMEONE ELSES and the man trusts the woman he is with too much to question it for his own protection.

[Xeones]

idk I don't think this is something that the state should be doing. Yes the dead beat dad should be paying child support. But should the DMV have the authority to step in like this?

Texas doesn't have a DMV.

If I remember right registration is done at the tax office and license is done at the "department of public safety".