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State may be on verge of child support clash Lawmaker spearheading
system reform Jim Tharpe - Staff Thursday, March 14, 2002
A smoldering, behind-the-scenes fight over Georgia child support payments
could ignite soon in the state Legislature.
State Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) plans to bring the issue to a head
as soon as next week by proposing fundamental changes to the way child support
payments are calculated.
Ehrhart's position was bolstered this month by an Atkinson County Superior
Court judge's ruling that Georgia's current child support guidelines are
unconstitutional. Judge C. Dane Perkins ruled that the guidelines are
"arbitrary" and violate a non-custodial parent's right to due process.
The decision affects that South Georgia judicial circuit only, and most
likely will be appealed to the state Supreme Court. But the decision has given
renewed momentum to Ehrhart's push to change the state's child support
provisions.
"Children have become the cash prize in Georgia for the parent who has
custody," said Ehrhart, who has custody of his two children but does not
receive child support. "The custody issues ought to be about what is best
for the child and not cash issues like they are now."
Some legislators say Georgia law works well in most custody cases. But
Ehrhart and his backers contend the law discriminates against non-custodial
parents --- generally fathers --- by assessing them excessive child support
payments. The rules, he said, were written for "poverty level and
below" households and unfairly penalize middle-class parents who do not
have full custody of their children.
Ehrhart, along with state Rep. Ben Allen (D-Augusta), has proposed
legislation that would base child support payments on both parents' income ---
not just the non-custodial parent --- and use "actual" child-rearing
costs, including tax-related benefits. However, that bill is stuck in the House
Judiciary Committee.
In a procedural move, Ehrhart plans to attempt to amend another piece of
legislation that has cleared the committee to include the key portions of his
bill. Ehrhart thinks the bill has a chance if it gets to the House floor.
"A lot of people in the House have heard from their constituents on
this," he said.
Opponents contend current child support guidelines allow Georgia judges the
flexibility needed to assess fair child support payments, which can vary widely
depending on income levels, the number of children and more than a dozen other
guiding factors.
"It's piecemeal child support reform, and we need to take a more
comprehensive look before we rush into this," said state Rep. Stephanie
Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur), a lawyer who specializes in family issues.
Benfield said she has been inundated by correspondence from supporters of
Ehrhart's bill, including one from a man who has threatened to run against her
because she opposes the legislation.
"You only hear from the people unhappy with the current system,"
she said. "You do not hear from the thousands of people who are satisfied
with the current system."
Ehrhart said most of the complaints about the current law come from second
wives.
"They complain that their husbands are paying so much child support to
the first wife that their [second wife's] children are suffering," he said.
"For every deadbeat spouse you hear about, there is a gold digger on the
other side."
Benfield said Ehrhart failed to involve key players in the child support
legal system when drafting his proposed changes.
"If a system is going to be affected, you have to involve the people on
the front lines," she said.
