How to Locate a Missing Deadbeat Dad

Thursday, January 21, 2010
posted by Frank Stevens

Deadbeat Dad

It is estimated that half of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce. This is a sad statistic, but even sadder when you consider that the majority of these broken marriages involve a child or several children. In most divorce cases involving children, a judge will determine the custody parameters of each parent, including any child support that a parent is ordered to pay. In the majority of child custody cases, the children’s main caretaker will be the mother, while the father will be ordered to pay a predetermined amount of child support each month.

While child support is usually based on a parent’s income and ability to pay at the time of the custody hearing, many of these dads make the child support payments sporadically or choose not to pay the child support at all. The reasons they have for not fulfilling their parental obligations run the gamut, from claiming that the child support payments are unaffordable, to not agreeing with how their former spouse is spending the child support payment money and anything and everything in between. Regardless, a parent that is ordered to pay child support cannot just decide to adjust the payments to a level that suits them or to stop the payments completely. If the parent feels the payments are unreasonable or that the other parent is being negligent, there is a legal process that can be followed to make adjustments to the child support. Unfortunately, many parents decide to take matters into their own hands. And because the majority of parents that are ordered to pay child support are the fathers as opposed to the mothers, the term, “deadbeat dad” has become a popular catchphrase today.

The term, “deadbeat dad” simply refers to any dad that is severely behind on making child support payments. Deadbeat dads can be a source of much frustration and anxiety for their former spouses and children. This is especially true if the parent in question has moved or otherwise made his whereabouts unknown. Many ex-partners of deadbeat dads feel like there is nothing they can do in this situation, but that is not the case. There are some positive steps you can take for your own sake and for the sake of your children.

If you do not know the whereabouts of the father of your child or children, finding out where he is would be the first step in attempting to recover lost child support. There are several websites that offer deadbeat dad location services for free. These sites are obviously limited in the amount of information they may return and they may not always have current and / or accurate information. Another way to track down a deadbeat dad is to hire a private investigator. While this will cost you some money up front, the pay off for finding the deadbeat dad in question could be tremendous, so do not rule this option out. Many private investigation firms offer locate investigations in which deadbeat dads can be found.



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