Research Shows Non-Custodial Fathers Are Often Generous with Their Children

When awarding child support, courts seem to operate on the assumption that noncustodial fathers will only provide support for their children if forced to by the government, and that money is only spent on children by mothers, not fathers. By contrast, research shows that fathers—when allowed to play a meaningful role in their children’s lives—are often quite generous with their children.

A study conducted by three Arizona State University researchers found that, adjusting for income and standard of living, divorced fathers with joint custody voluntarily contribute even more to their children's college education than the children's mothers do. The three researchers wrote:

"The findings were clear. When we took into account divorced mothers’ and fathers’ financial situations and their ability to pay for college expenses, we found that...mothers and fathers voluntarily contributed remarkably similar proportions of their financial resources to their children’s college education. This occurred in a state that has no statute or case law holding parents to a duty to college support...In joint custody families, fathers contributed more than mothers did..."

In other words, even though most many fathers did not have equal custody rights to their children (i.e. Joint Custody), they still contributed, adjusted for income, as much to their children's college educations as the children's mothers did. When fathers did have equal custody rights, they contributed more than the mothers did.

These findings belie the popular perception that courts must force fathers to pay child support for their college-aged children, or that high-earning fathers will only be generous to their children if forced to.

To read the study, see "Divorced parents’ financial support of their children’s college expenses," Fabricius, W.V., Braver, S.L. & Deneau, K. (2003). Family Court Review, 41(2), 224-241. Also, see Glenn Sacks' column New Study Punctures Myth of the Uncaring Divorced Dad (Newsday, 6/23/03).

Families Against Confiscatory Child Support (FACCS) believes that all parents should support their children, both emotionally and financially. High-earners have an obligation to provide financial support to their children. However, custodial parents often exploit high-earners, obtaining child support orders vastly beyond that which is reasonable to support a child. These windfall or lottery-like child support awards benefit custodial parents, not children. To contact FACCS, email contact@faccsonline.org.