Like most of you women here, I have custody of my kids from a previous relationship. I originally declined child support because I was in a better position to take care of the two girls. Then their mother tried fighting me for custody two years later (and lost), but the state stepped in and ordered her to pay child support (double-whammy on her part). I received payments here and there, but now she is over $27K in rears. She has played the system like many have, getting jobs under the table, job bouncing, etc. But now that she is remarried, I wonder if her new husband knows everything going on. Even with all of this, I haven't mentioned any of this to the girls... and no parent should. I have completely encouraged my girls to know their mom and love her. I grew up in a broken home, and know first hand about one parent smash-talking the other parent to the child. It's hard, but this is where we need to put our differences aside and raise the child(ren) with complete affection and negativity. The kids will learn on their own. After all, everything my mom said about my dad was true. I have learned that the non-custodial parent who doesn't pay child support, will be reported to the credit agencies to have it reflected upon their credit report. But that still doesn't solve our problem. The fact that today there are almost 26% of moms who owe child support that don't pay as compared with almost 24% of dads. All in all, we are all in the same boat.