Oh man...This strikes real close to home. I got divorced in California in 2008 after 9 years of marriage. It ended due to wife infidelity and general cuntiness due to being caught. I have two great kids from the marriage and am happy to pay to support them.
-But -
The court saw fit to order that I pay what amounted to 75% of my check toward child and spousal support, in addition to child support arrears. (I paid support to her from the moment I left the household, but she told the court I did not pay her a dime.) So almost overnight I went from middle class to poor. I had to readjust my lifestyle and take on a roommate. I could not afford the basics needed to survive. I had to stop paying on my car loan and credit card bills. I had difficulty having enough gas to go pick them up every other weekend. Then I lost my job. I immediately informed and filed the proper paperwork for a reduction of support and it took the Dept. of Child Support EIGHT months to adjust my payments. The whole time I accrued 8 months of full on child support. The child support division refused to make the change retroactive. Unemployment payments were even less than what I was making at my job, and eventually I was forced to move into a homeless shelter. I tried to find a place to live, but my monthly unemployment would not cover it all. So I had to move out of state. I continued to pay child support from my meager unemployment, and when that dried up, I filed for an even further reduction. Now I do not pay any child support, but this time it took the Child Support Division 9 months to give me my reduction, and another refusal to make it retroactive to the filing date. (Still cannot find a job, and yes I have looked at every possible opening including those kind of jobs I would be overqualified for.) Now due to arrears I have had my professional licensed revoked, my drivers license revoked, my passport revoked, and now I have letters from California stating that they are going to ask for me to be found in contempt of court. I had a court hearing a few months back as the ex remarried into money and thought it would be a good time to try and wrest custody from me. I asked the court for more time, and for the mother to share costs for visitation, (something that she has NEVER had to pay.) but the court reduced my time with the kids and ordered that I continue to pay the full price for visitation. This has resulted in me being unable to be able to afford visitation at all. I am now poor and cannot afford an attorney. With no license, inability to get my professional licenses back, or my passport, I cannot secure employment.

Through all of this, all I have ever wanted was equal time with my kids, and now the State of California is slowly removing the kids from my life. The last 3 years have been very difficult to get through. I think this exact thing this guy is going though is my future as well. Hopefully a job comes through, but after searching for jobs in the last three years, that hope is dwindling as I am now 43. The support system needs to be fair and equitable.