Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/09/man-faked-own-death-to-avoid-paying-child-support.html
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Father of the year.
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“I am invincible!”, he shouted … as his driver’s license, car plates and social security switched off.
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The news coverage doesn’t mention if he had any kind of long-term plan but given he was charged with various forms of identity theft I imagine the idea was to live under another name moving forward? That would be a lot of effort to go through without having a “Step 2” in mind…
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Obligatory:
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If you didn’t want a kid, you shoulda used a condom, you evil dumbass.
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There seems to be something about child support that really brings out the self-destructive spite in some people.
Let’s say he hadn’t been caught: ok, The Man closes the file on your support case; but your property, barring only whatever is on your back or in your pockets, is now your estate and will be disbursed accordingly. Your education and employment history are now those of a dead guy; any future interactions with people who check IDs, comply with I-9 requirements, etc. will now have to be avoided or met with yet more stories to keep straight(with risk and mode of discovery varying depending on whether you attempt to be someone fictitious or piggyback on an actual identity and hope nobody notices overlaps).
Plus you lose all social and family contacts unless you think you can trust them to be accessories and keep secrets atypically competently. Even living in a place where you might run into a former member of your social circle would be high risk.
That just seems like a lousy deal(all considerations related to being a deadbeat aside) unless your life was a disaster most levels beforehand: no social ties with keeping, educational and vocational experience of marginal value, etc.
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Surely this is another expression of toxic masculinity. You demand the right to decide over the wishes of your partner whether to permit your children to live, or die, or be supported, without any notion for your own part in engendering them.
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Right? It seems like the drawbacks of faking your own death would outweigh any benefit.
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If he already had a coherent plan for an identity reboot in place, okay, but that doesn’t seem like his style.
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Birth control should be used if people don’t want kids. But no birth method is 100% effective. With restricted access to abortion in many parts of the US, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more parents trying to evade family support obligations in the future.
If he’s legally dead by his own hand, does he have any civil rights and protections?
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I am a woman. I am quite aware of everything in your reply. 
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Since the creation of child support, men have attempted to evade it. This is why many (and hopefully, most) states have moved to wage garnishment to ensue court orders are enforced.
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My own father among them. He didn’t want to pay mom the court-ordered $16/month.
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