I have been divorced for 9 years. My ex-husband and I have joint custody of our 17-yr old daughter. Although I expected child support to end when she turned 18 and left home for college, the circumstances are now different. She used to spend 50% of her time at each home. However, two years ago, she suffered a traumatic event which has caused her to need therapy and a lot of support, and has resulted in her living with me full-time. She is going to attend a local community college in the fall, and will continue to live with me, and receive therapy. Will I be able to continue to claim child support for her in this situation, and if so , for how long? Thanks

If the support order expires it us unlikely you can extend it. Yu should have fikled for an increase when she started leaving with you full time.

You can try however.

Hi and thanks for your response,

I did get an increase, although I didn't seek it. My ex took me back to court to get the payment reduced when my son left for college. He expected his payment to be cut in half (- even though my daughter was now living with me full time) because the court order says that he has joint physical custody. However, the court said they didn't care what the order said; they wanted to know what the actually physical situation was. So he is now paying me full child support for one child instead of partial support for two. It didn't turn out to be a lot different. He will be taking me back to court this the summer when she turns 18. If I lose the child support, I lose quite a substantial amount of money, but I will still have a dependent child living in the house with me. I guess it might be a good idea to call Domestic Relations ahead of time and see what my chances are.

Your court order will tell you how long and when support ends, please just get it out and read it.

Your court order will tell you how long and when support ends, please just get it out and read it.

This is important, your court order is what you are under, someone else may have gotten other terms. So unless you or the other party goes back to modify the existing order, it is in effect.

No one here can tell you what terms you and the other party agreed to without reading your court order.