1. The house is usually awarded to the parent who ends up with custody. This isn't to "reward" that parent, but to protect the interest of the child in the property, so he/she doesn't have to lose his/her home as well as splitting up the family. It is an attempt by the system to decrease the amount of trauma a child faces during and after a divorce.

This is true and this is almost always the mother. However as the house represents the most significant asset that a couple is likely to hold whether or not it is to reward it most certainly does. The effect is that of a reward regardless of what anyone actually wants.

2. Child support is awarded by the court from the noncustodial parent for the support of his or her child, not for the benefit of the custodial parent.

Actually the benefit is to the STATE who gets Social Security Title IV funding directly tied to the child support burden. The higher and more oppressive the burden the more money the state gets so there is a vested pecuniary interest in maximizing the award without any regard to the justness of the amount. More is better and this is not just. A just award would be 50/50 parenting and NO child support at all.

What's that? You did know that the state makes money making the burden as large possible right? You doubt that? Okay read the law yourself:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/88227/Title-IVD-Money-Flow

And while your at here are two other articles describing the situation in a more personal light...

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/54/the-deadbeat-dad-myth

http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/letters/02/reader032102.htm

I understand that there are many people who misuse child support, but the noncustodial parent isn't "supporting" the other family;

Yes they are. Rather the non-custodial parent is being enslaved to the other family and is forced to pay or go to jail REGARDLESS of the circumstances. Lose your job in this bad economy? Too bad go to jail. You're a prisoner of war? Too bad off to jail with you. You were falsely convicted for murder and spent 10 years in prison? Well too bad you owe child support for those years so pay up or go back to prison. Such a system can never be just and it doesn't matter how flowery you make the "FOR THE CHILDREN" logic. Hitler youth was for the children too and was justified for many good reasons including teaching scouting like skills and other important values such as honesty and hard work.

Oh and here is the link - seek page 30 for the reference to the horror stories I list above or search the document for the word "Iraq":

http://www.geocities.com/capitolHill/5910/Baskerville/Deadbeats1.pdf

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You would have to support your children if you were with the other parent. Why should you not be expected to do so if you are divorced?

Actually this too is false. Mothers can and do drop off their children at hospitals, churches, charities, etc. without penalty and never pay a dime of support. A married couple can do this without penalty. A married man can lose his job through either fault or no fault of his own and NOT go to jail for non payment. Enter the word divorce into the equation and all bets are off.

3. Most states have a standard percentage of the noncustodial parent's wages awarded for child support. For example, for one child, it's 20%. The second child adds 16%. Yes, it's a lot of money, but you would have to pay for the child if you had custody, as well.

This is true most states have a standard percentage... handed to them by the federal government under threat of loss of funding if they don't use it. These orders are based on percentages and here is a great quote from an article I list that shows how ridiculous this concept is:

"Further, the current method of assessing child support awards is blatantly unfair. The current percentage-based system does not allow for equality among children. 17% of my income is much lower than 17% of my ex-husband’s. Does this mean that my child is worth less if he lives with his father? Does this mean that a rich parent’s child is worth more than mine? The government has figured how much it costs to raise a child on a per state basis, in order to figure welfare and social security payments. Why does it cost more to raise my child than it does to raise the child of a welfare recipient?"

http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/slavery.php

4. Lawyers lie. Spouses lie. Children lie.

Yes so why do we handsomely pay the parties to lie? Doesn't it stand to reason that you get more of what you pay for? So if we pay women to falsely accuse men of violence and separate them from their homes and families then lie about child support (which benefits the states) chances are you get very destructive lies that benefit those in power while HARMING the children.

And, most importantly, the court system is so backed up it is difficult to handle all the cases.

Of course the simple solution to this would be to eliminate the family courts and let people hash things out the way they did before. But given the fact that the family courts do everything possible to create MORE business for themselves this to be sure is not something the court system is concerned about. It would be like a retail store being upset that it had lots of customers.

Some exes are scum-sucking pigs and others were models of decency. But guess what? Scum-sucking pigs can end up with custody and models of decency can get shafted.

Actually its predominantly based on sex and of course money. Men are always scum sucking pigs and women are always virginal Mother Theresa architypes. False charges are never punished and actively encouraged with a spoils system and the courts go along with it as it maximizes child support and gets judges re-elected. Also it provides an excellent opportunity for the dad to have to hire "experts" on court order (and jail if he can't pay for them) to "assess" the situation. What a great way for a judge to appoint a few croonies! No system NO system based on such can ever be just and any attempts to make it so will fail because it is based on the idea of replacing fathers with money coerced from their pockets under implicit threat of violence (jail) with the states getting a cut. You won't find a more perfect avenue for evil and pretending to be surprised won't make it go away. It DOES make dads go away to the tune of horrific rates of suicide however...

http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/54/4/254

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/03/14/broadcasts/main172016.shtml

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/03/15/divorce.suicide.wmd/