Maryland Enemies
The Department of Human Resources operates the Child Support Enforcement Program. This page actually makes the argument that a child's "standard of living" should not be reduced by one parent not contributing. This runs smack into Troxel v. Granville, which finds that "as long as the parent is adequately caring for the child" the state does not have an interest to intrude into the privates realm of the family. The parents have a fundamental Fourteenth Amendment right to make the decisions concerning custody, care, control, and education of their children as long as they are adequately caring for their children. This means that the state has no right to dictate to any parent how much money they shall spend on their children once the minimum standard is met. But a child support order that goes beyond this minimum standard is exactly that. If a custodial parent has sufficient resources to adequately care for his or her child without receiving any money from the other parent, than the state does not have any interest at all. Which is why some of these state agency web sites make the standard of living argument. For further details on why this is wrong, please read my Brief before the Ninth Circuit on this very subject.
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