A recent study from the U.S. Census Bureau has found that mothers are actually less likely than fathers to meet their monthly child support obligations — although moms are rarely the ones who are ordered to pay child support in the first place.
As of 2011, about 18.1 percent of custodial parents were fathers in the United States. That year, approximately 32 percent of custodial fathers did not receive a single penny of the child support owed to them, compared to about 25.1 percent of all custodial mothers. It’s a relatively small difference, and even smaller is the difference between mothers and fathers who received the full amount of what they were owed. About 43.6 percent of custodial mothers received all of their child support that year, compared to 41.6 percent of fathers.
Dependence on child support varies
It’s appears that mothers are statistically less likely to meet their child support obligations. However, there’s another statistic that’s far more significant here. The average household income for a single dad who does not get the amount of child support money he is owed is $51,791. For single mothers who don’t get their full amount of child support, the average household income is $26,231. That’s an enormous disparity.
Additionally, single dads are less likely than single moms to have custody of more than one child — 33.7 percent of single dads versus 45.3 percent of single moms. Basically, these numbers indicate that single fathers are still responsible for the vast majority of unpaid child support, and single mothers have significantly less income to fall back on if they do not receive their child support payments.
To learn more about determining child support, contact a knowledgeable Minneapolis family law attorney with Appelhof, Pfeifer & Hart, P.A. today.
