Hi

My name is Kezia and I currently live in Miami, Florida with my mother. I am a full-time student in college (Miami-Dade College) and I am 22 years old now. My parents have been divorced since I was 2 years old. My biological father has been paying child support since I was 3 years old until I turned 17 years old of $110.00. The payments stop in April of 2002. In June 2002, I recall a conversation that my biological father and I had about child support and we both noticed that they were still deducting from his check for child support payment. He said that he was going to call them and see what the problem is and to see if he could get his money back. He told me that he got back the money which I believe was $950.00.

My questions are:

1) What is the age of when child support payment is suppose to cease? Is it until I turn 25? If so, how do I go about getting it continued and getting back payment of when it stopped in April 2002 until now (December 2006)?

2) How do I go about getting that money he received back in 2002?

3) How do I get back pay because I believed it should have been more money given for child support instead $110?

1. Normally child support ends at age 18. However, certain states (I don't know about Fla. Specifically) require support payments to continue to be made for full-time students, usually until age 23.

2. If you believe you are entitled to back support payments then you and your mother would have to file a motion with the court that originally issued the order to ask that your father be ordered to pay.

3. It's pretty hard to get an order modified retroactively. If $110 was the amount he was ordered to pay (that's weekly, I presume), then that's that. Either party can ask for a modification of the order amount but must show that there's been changed circumstances that would warrant such a modification. If he owes back support because he hasn't paid the $110 every week since the order's been in effect for that amount, then that's one thing but to say that what he was paying wasn't enough if in fact he complied with all the terms of the court order then you really won't have a leg to stand on. Keep in mind that, at age 22, even though he may be required to continue to pay support because of your student status, you're also expected to contribute to your own upkeep by working part time, taking advantage of student loans and scholarships, etc.