I live in Indiana. I am divorced with an 18 year old son (who is a senior in high school) and a 10 year old daughter. Up until last month, my son lived with me full-time and my daughter part time.

When my son turned 18, he decided to move in with his mother; therefore requiring me to pay additional child support.

We are trying to work with our lawyers to agree upon the child support amount that I will be paying now that my son is moving in with his mother full-time.

I am requesting credit for 157 overnight visits on the child support calculation worksheet based on the number of overnights that I have my 10 year old daughter, even though I am paying support on two children.

I understand that I will be required to pay child support on my son until he is 21 if he goes to college.

My ex-wifes lawyer is trying to tell me that a judge will not allow credit for 157 overnights because I am paying support on two children not just one. She states that the judge will allow credit for only 79 overnight. But, my issue is that my son is a legal adult, can the court order visitation for an 18 year old?

My question is... what is the policy for child support visitations on an 18 year old in the state of Indiana?

My son is 18 years old and will graduate in May.

In the state of Indiana, I am required to pay support to the age of 21 if my son attends secondary schooling.

Do I stop paying support when he turns 18 or am I required to pay until he is out of school for a specific period.

Is it my responsibility to notify the court or is it done automatically?

It's my understanding that support stops when he is not registered and attending school/college. Obviously he would not be attending during the Summer and during breaks but would be enrolled. Is he attempting to get accepted anywhere, enroll anywhere?

If he is not, I wouldn't take a chance and would notify the Court of the change in circumstances.

This should be combined with your other post. Also, you are negotiating through an Attorney now - what does the Attorney say about all this, the Attorney being familiar with the exact circumstances of the matter(s).

Nothing is done automatically. You have to file the paperwork in order to stop the support, at that time your ex would counter with your son's is still in school and would provide the paperwork for the Judge.

Have you tried to ask your ex about your son's plans? Your ex or your son should be able to tell you the school he will attend. Your ex should also send you the paperwork for the school - and it's not unreasonable to ask for it if you don't get anything.

It must vary State to State - in NY no request to modify or end needs to be filed, no response is necessary UNLESS the parents can't discuss it and/or can't agree.

If school has ended or the mandatory age has been reached the party who pays support simply stops paying pursuant to the Order and it's up to the other party to bring him/her to Court and argue that support should continue if that is the perceived situation. Doesn't turn adversarial.

Again - varies State to State.

Not sure how it works in NY but as far as I know if support is being taken out of a payroll check then they deduct it until something is received that tells the company different due to the liability issues that surround child support. In many states noncompliance by a company in taking the child support payments directly from payroll makes the company liable for the payment plus possible interest. In Cali you would notify the support agency ahead of time ( like 6 months ) and that way it can be stopped. Otherwise if no one knows then it will still be taken out until they are told otherwise.

Right, if it's an automatic deduction it's the same here. (There are Attorneys involved in this on behalf of OP and ex-wife and, once again, I wonder why they are silent on this issue?)

I thought there was no child support for 18 year olds?

My ex stopped paying the day my son turned 18..

The way it works in California is that when a child reaches maximum child support age the child support order terminates by operation of law. This means it stops running on its own and if the obligor is paying directly (i.e. not by wage assignment) he simply stops paying and that's it. No need to go into court and change the order. Wage assignment orders, however, are different. They continue to run until terminated (but that doesn't mean the order for support continues running). In the time it takes to terminate the wage assignment beyond the automatic termination of the CS order any payments received by the support recipient must be refunded.

It varies by state but the general rule of thumb is 18 AND finished high school. So if a child were to turn 18 in March and they are in their senior year then it continues until graduation ( June ) or until 19 if the child is still in High School. There are few states that go beyond the 18 limit but more and more are trying to take it to 21 years of age. Under circumstances of special needs children the support order can last a lifetime.

The modification of child support is coming via my ex-wifes lawyer. I do not have a lawyer. Her lawyer is doing everything she can to get me to sign an agreement with a credit for parenting time of only 79 overnight visits. I am just trying to find out if there is a ruling in the state of Indiana where a judge will mandate that an 18 year follow-thru with overnight visitations?

I'm not entirely sure what your question is regarding the 79 overnights. Perhaps you could elaborate. Until then, let me try to answer your question.

In states where 18 is the age of majority (like California) the court has no jurisdiction to make custody orders concerning an 18 year old (in other words the court cannot mandate that an 18 year old spend overnights with anyone). But, the odd thing is that child support often continues a while longer than 18 (like CalifDad said after 18 until finishing high school- if a full time high school student- up to a maximum age of 19). Timeshare with a kid affects child support in most states (like California where it is a major factor) but the odd thing is who gets credit for time with an 18 year old who is still eligible for support but one over whom no court can order a timeshare with either parent? Weird isn't it? This may be where your question re the overnights is headed.

We don't really have a nice simple answer to this in California. Some will say whatever timeshare applied to the 18 year old before the 18 year old's 18th birthday is locked in place until child support ends. Others say you just look to with whom the child resides and calculate actual timeshare even though the court cannot order custody (this is the view I follow). But, what if the kid is with NEITHER parent, or divides his time between a 3rd party and his parents?

We don't really have any case law directly on point so this is an area where you just have to be creative and hope the judge likes your argument.

This is the excerpt from the original posting by OP: ( begin quote )

We are trying to work with our lawyers to agree upon the child support amount that I will be paying now that my son is moving in with his mother full-time.

I am requesting credit for 157 overnight visits on the child support calculation worksheet based on the number of overnights that I have my 10 year old daughter, even though I am paying support on two children.

I understand that I will be required to pay child support on my son until he is 21 if he goes to college. ( end quote )



Hope that clears up the overnight question for you.

I still fail to see if credit for who the 18 year old is with is factored in and why the full 157 overnights with the 10 year old is an issue so that the other side wants it reduced.

I think the issue is he is confusing visits and child support, the two are not related. But of course HER attorney will tell you that the sun is blue if that helps her case. What is your attorney telling you?

But there will be no visitation order on the 18 year old, he does not have to visit if he does not want to, but you will have to pay support to the parent with custody if that is what your order states. ( not all orders require though 21)

In all states there are provisions in the child support laws that directly tie them to visitation of that magnatude. 157 overnights is joint parenting plan because its about 50% of the year and that's significant and can be a factor for setting child support. I believe all states have an " exception " code in their child support models.