Check out some similar questions!

redrobin33 · Jun 21, 2007, 02:33 PM

My youngest child is 18 and has graduated from high school he has not enrolled in college and has no plans to enroll. Can I get him emancipated so that my child Support will end?

nauticalstar420 · Jun 21, 2007, 02:37 PM

When I turned 18 my father went to his lawyer to some sign some kind of paperwork ending his responsibilities to pay child support. At 18 he is a legal adult so emancipation in a sense is already done. :)

LadyB · Jun 21, 2007, 02:48 PM

Check your support order, usually it ends automatically at 18 unless the child is a student.

shygrneyzs · Jun 21, 2007, 02:48 PM

Generally, at 18, a person is emancipated. You ask about child support - what does your divorce state, under the section about child support? Read that - it will give you the conditions of continued support past the age of 18. If you cannot find your divorce decree, get in contact with your attorney, who handled the divorce. Or call your Child Support Enforcement Agency. They have the child support order on file.

If you are required to pay past the age of 18 and part of that requirement is for the child to be in college, and your 18 yr old is not going to enroll, then you have to go and petition the court, to review the order. Get your documentation and get to your attorney and the rest you can figure out. Good luck.

nya · Jun 21, 2007, 09:07 PM

It totally depends on what type of order your child support was ordered under.

In Florida, if it was ordered at your local child support office, the child does emancipate at age 18 but if they are still in high school at 18, child support can be extended but the custodial parent has to file a petition to do this. This is not your situation though. In your situation if the case is from a child support order then he may still be paying child support to pay off child support arrears owed to you. You do not state if the father is up to date with his child support payments and owes any arrears. He would keep paying even if the child is 18 until all arrears are paid off.

If your child support is ordered under a divorce order then you would have to read your order specifically to see what it states when the child turns 18. You also don't state whether there are any younger children because if there are, in a lot of instances, child support continues in the same amount until the youngest child turns 18. Unless the divorce order states differently.

If the child is 18, the father does not owe arrears, there are no younger kids and your divorce order says he doesn't have to pay after the child turns 18 then he does not have to pay child support to you. You can just contact the father or his attorney and tell him to stop paying.