>Not true, at least NOT in North Carolina. The goal of child support is so the child can enjoy the same standard of living as he/she did before the divorce. That means that even if both parents earn equal salaries (or even if the one without custody earns less), the one who is not the primary custodian contributes monies to the custodial parent so the child can enjoy the same standard of living as he/she did while living in a home with both parents (2 incomes).
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>I don't know of any cases of alimony. I don't think anyone gets it here anymore unless they didn't work the entire time they were married and are mentally or physically incapable of employment. Even then, it normally doesn't last longer than 6 months or a year at most. Every state has different laws though.

Shows that I'm out of the legal app I was working on last summer :). I completely failed to remember that there's a distinction between "child support" and "alimony". Back home, the latter term covered both meanings.