New Mexico advocate for dads' rights takes on child support

The Belen father who founded Dads Against Discrimination and spent 15 years in New Mexico courts battling for fathers' rights has a new fight on his hands.

Don Chavez has filed a challenge to New Mexico's child support guidelines in state District Court in Albuquerque in connection with his recent divorce case.

Chavez's 16-page petition is devoted to the child support guidelines he claims are unfair.

Chavez said he is going to bat for parents who have custody of their children less than 25 percent of the time and must pay full child support to the custodial parent.

He has asked the court to develop new guidelines that will recognize that both parents must pay for the needs of the child and that their share should be based on their ability to pay.

If he is successful changing the guidelines, "tens of thousands of court-ordered child support orders in New Mexico will be rendered null and void," Chavez claims.

New Mexico collects $95 million annually in child support payments under the guidelines adopted in 1994, state officials said.

The state Human Services Department's Child Support Enforcement Division manages 60,000 cases, said Martin Eckert, Human Services Department public information officer.

Department officials said they were not aware of Chavez's petition. The department is not a party in his case, they said.

Chavez said New Mexico's child support guideline for determining payment is similar to a guideline struck down as unconstitutional in a Washington, D.C., case.

Chavez is critical of the divorce industry for not taking on this issue after the Washington court decision.

"Why has not one legally trained professional nor licensed attorney noticed the same in New Mexico?" Chavez asks in his petition. "Because this is their bread and butter."

Chavez is representing himself against his estranged wife, Quillon Dayton-Chavez of Albuquerque. She filed for divorce last month.

Chavez and Dayton-Chavez have two children, ages 3 and 6, from their seven-year marriage, his third and her second.

Chavez said he has not asked for child support from Dayton-Chavez. And she said she hasn't mentioned child support.

"I wasn't the one who brought up child support," Dayton-Chavez said. "He is acting like I asked, and I didn't."

Even if a new guideline is not developed, Chavez said he will benefit from the changes in child custody laws instigated by Dads Against Discrimination, a group he founded in New Mexico.

In 1980, when Chavez was in court fighting for joint custody of two daughters, his request was denied based on the Tender Years Doctrine, which basically said children were better off with their mother.

In today's divorce court, the law presumes that joint custody will be granted, unless a court establishes facts to support sole custody, Chavez said.

The joint custody law was passed by the Legislature in 1986.

Chavez said he has leave from his job as a school social worker to care for his two young children.

"I'm Mr. Mom," he said. "I'm the custodial parent."

Dayton-Chavez said Chavez lets her have the children three weekends a month.

"Personally, I don't see that Don's child support challenge is newsworthy," she said.

"He's trying to use the media and look very dedicated. He didn't want me to file for divorce, and this is his way to strike back."