I am the father of a 19 year old disabled daughter (learning disabilities). Her mother has been collecting child support for the past 14 years, but our CA Court Order ends child supoort at age 19. Her mother is now in the porcess of taking me back to court to continue the Adult with Disabilities Child Support. I have just retired at age 63 and I know that my daughter will qualify for SSI benefits under my Social Security. How does Family Law Code determine my child support obligation with regard to the SSI benefits that my ex-wife will be receiving as the payee for our daughters SSI benefits? We have joint legal custory, but my ex-wife has physical custory and I only get visitation time.

How bad is her disability ? Is she non-functional and needs constant care ?

My daughters disability is sever, but she is very social and fun to be around. At the age of 19 she has the mental ability of a 10-11 year old. She can feed herself and get dressed, but she will never be able to live by herself. She could function well in a group home with adult supervision. She cannot handle money and my ex and I have just been awarded Limited Conservatorship. She will never be able to drive a car, but she could ride a local bus to her job. She could be a greeter at Wal-Mart or a Hostess at a restaurant. She could also work in a small factory doing some assembly work.

She should already be getting SSI I believe. And as far as how they count it it can go one of 2 ways. Either they count what SSI pays and include it in what you would owe or they include it as part of the household gross income for your ex when the calculate child support. Mostly its going to vary by the state this is taking place in. ( where the action is filed ). Depending on your finances you may be able to get around child supprt by setting up a trust fund from a 401K that would give a monthly allowance to your daughter in liue of an actual child support check. The benefit of that would be you still can contribute more when you like for needed expenses but also you would be setting her up for life. There may be tax advantages by using your 401K or IRA to do this with.