My wife and I have left the US and moved to the UK because we could not afford to live here. We ended up moving back to the US because I have another child here and being away from that child was very depressing for me. I currently live in the State of Virginia, but the child lives in Florida. (The reason why we don't live in Florida is beyond the scope of this post, but suffice it to say that I have tried to afford living close to my child in Florida but have failed financially and had to move about 5 times).
Now I make substantially more income and things are ok in the material sense.
We have some serious financial fears as indicated here:
http://forums.psychcentral.com/showf...5&o=21&fpart=1
I am sorry if my link to this post confuses you, but just wanted to give you some history.
As I said, we are better off financially than we have ever been, but child support is always a financial hinderance. (Please don't start talking to me about "how I shouldn't have a problem supporting my child" because this is not the time or place for what is truly a political debate).
I feel that moving back to the UK would serve as a buffer against the bureaucratic nightmare called "child support" should I ever become jobless or there ever be an accounting error at that State Agency. (This kept happening to me and I lost my license many times, got my passport taken away, got my credit wrecked etc, etc.)
If the bureaucracy hits me the wrong way even once, It is likely that I will end up getting arrested and lose my job for failure to pay. (Even though I am simultaneously paying). I could sit in jail for years for failing to pay while I am in jail.
Paranoid? Well it has happened.
Then it will be too late to make a move to the UK.
Other things I like about the UK over the US are as follows:
1) If one of my kids is threatened or hurt, I don't have to go to jail for 15 years to honor or protect them (USA Style). I can do a UK overnight. (It is not like I am looking for trouble...to the contrary, I want to be able to protect my kids and defend their honor without having them homeless and probably with their violator because I would end up in jail for protecting them).
2) I won't always have the stress of worrying about whether or not we can afford the medical bills we get here. (My wife is in average health for a 26 year old), but tends to have alot of smaller health issues some of which are due to the fact that her mother and father are both dead at age 46 and 50.
3) I won't have to worry about my children going to college as much as I would here. Some college is free in the UK. I don't want them to encounter the potentially unpayable debt and all of the stress that I have come to know that is associated with it.
4) For reasons mentioned in the above post, I am financially afraid of living like this. I am not a big fan of government hand outs, but I'd rather be in the UK where government can be my daddy if I fall into financial havoc yet again than to see my kids do without. The concept of "don't worry you will find another job" has failed me many times. Now, with no support system, I cannot afford that type of failure.
I know in the end it is only me who can call the shots and knows my situation best, but I don't want to be too flighty when things are now going relatively good nor do I want to wait until they go wrong again and not be able to make my escape!
Thank you for your time!