I have 3 children. One is 21 and in the Air Force, one is 18 and just graduated high school, and the youngest is 17 and will graduate next year. My ex wife contends that when suport was ordered, that it must remain in effect until ALL 3 graduate and or turn 18. My support was entered as 250 a week for all 3 kids. My question has 2 parts, 1) do I have to petition the court to reduce for the 2 that have left the home, and 2)if not, can I reduce my support by 2/3 to allow for the 2 children that no longer live in the home nor is supported by the custodial parent. Seems unfair for me to pay on two children who, under Tenn. Law have been "emancipated".

Go petition the court to re assess your support orders.
I highly doubt her support orders require you to pay for all three until the 17 yr old is 18 especially since your oldest is 21, in the Air Force and would be considered self sufficient.

1) Yes
2) No

You need to review your divorce decree to see exactly how the support order is written. If its not clear, then go to court to amend or ontepret it.

Please review your settlement paperwork under the part of child support. Never heard of the scenerio of having to pay for all 3 until they all reach 18 years old. I think your wife is trying to pull a fast one as she likes getting the extra income. If your paperwork does not state that you have to pay for all 3 until they are 18, by all means file a petition to stop paying for the kids who don't qualify for the child support money!

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Originally Posted by sbear40

I have 3 children. One is 21 and in the Air Force, one is 18 and just graduated high school, and the youngest is 17 and will graduate next year. My ex wife contends that when suport was ordered, that it must remain in effect until ALL 3 graduate and or turn 18. My support was entered as 250 a week for all 3 kids. My question has 2 parts, 1) do I have to petition the court to reduce for the 2 that have left the home, and 2)if not, can I reduce my support by 2/3 to allow for the 2 children that no longer live in the home nor is supported by the custodial parent. Seems unfair for me to pay on two children who, under Tenn. law have been "emancipated".

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I'm pretty sure the support does not go down by fractions. In other words, if the support is $600 per month for three and two are at least 18, your support doesn't go down to $200. It will be less, but not by that much. Remember, child support is for the cost of putting a roof over their heads, household bills, food, clothes, etc. The first two costs remain the same pretty much whether you have three or one child at home. That is how I understand it. I bet your child support would be reduced to $150 - $175.

Also too child support varies from state to state. So to better answer your question then it might help to know what state the child support is ordered in. Also there are many online calculators that may help. If you only have 1 years time left to pay ( Im not saying you do ) but if you do then it might not be worth making a fuss over it and creating extra expense to fight over something that in the long run will cost you more. You need better information so you can inform yourself as to what best fits your situation.

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Originally Posted by sbear40

I have 3 children. One is 21 and in the Air Force, one is 18 and just graduated high school, and the youngest is 17 and will graduate next year. My ex wife contends that when suport was ordered, that it must remain in effect until ALL 3 graduate and or turn 18. My support was entered as 250 a week for all 3 kids. My question has 2 parts, 1) do I have to petition the court to reduce for the 2 that have left the home, and 2)if not, can I reduce my support by 2/3 to allow for the 2 children that no longer live in the home nor is supported by the custodial parent. Seems unfair for me to pay on two children who, under Tenn. law have been "emancipated".

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Why would you not want to pay for your children ? That is so baffling to me you are not a man you are looking for ways to get out of taking responsibility of your children I say TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN!!

He wants to pay he just doesn't think it should be the whole amount since his one is 21 and in the air force.

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Originally Posted by kimdeelee

Why would you not want to pay for your children ? That is so baffling to me you are not a man you are looking for ways to get out of taking responsibility of your children i say TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!

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Before you get angry, maybe you should read what he actually said. Two of his children are over 18, on their own and paying their own way. This does not sound like a man trying to shirk his responsibilities. I suggest you owe him an apology.

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Originally Posted by kimdeelee

Why would you not want to pay for your children ? That is so baffling to me you are not a man you are looking for ways to get out of taking responsibility of your children i say TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!

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I bet I could use my psychic powers to guess that you're a CP who has had troubles with an EX... am I even close?

Nonetheless, this OP is obviously being yanked around by his EX because he HAS been 'taking responsibility of his children' so much so that his EX has decided she'd like to continue seeing him take care of his children WHEN THEY ARE ADULTS...

Where do you get off making a deadbeat dad out of this guy? And claiming he's not a man.. oh, and I suppose this little move makes his EX more of a woman, right? And not a golddigger in your book? Wow, either you really didn't read thoroughly enough or you're one of those women who think they're entitled to be supported forever just because you obtained a child support order... Good luck with that, honey...

On the one 21, in fact unless he was in college, his support would have stopped some time ago, as with the 18 depending on the state and the support agreement, if the 18 year old goes to college payments may have to be continued on that child.

But I will say you do request it to be modified. But also how long has it been since it has been modified, since they will now go against the current income, so if you are making a lot more money today than you did years ago when the child support was set.

So yes, it should be reset for either two or one child at this point, but it will be set under the current states rules for support and on the current incomes.