Ask Me Help Desk - Stopping Child Support

Stopping Child Support

We were told that we needed to file an Emancipation order to be certain that Child Support stopped when it was supposed to in the State of Indiana. With my husbands previous child they continued to take out child support for almost a year after he was out of college before we could get it stopped and of course that was not refunded to us. My question, is that the proper order to file?

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Originally Posted by Out of Answers

We were told that we needed to file an Emancipation order to be certain that Child Support stopped when it was supposed to in the State of Indiana. With my husbands previous child they continued to take out child support for almost a year after he was out of college before we could get it stopped and of course that was not refunded to us. My question, is that the proper order to file?

Stinawords is in Indiana and will be around shortly (I'll bet).

In the meantime, is support paid to an agency or directly to the mother (in this case)? In NY (where I am) you simply stop paying. If it's paid through the Court, you advise the Court as early as you can, as soon as you have all the evidence of emancipation with a copy to the mother (in this case).

If she continues to collect the support after emancipation you have to take her to Court and sue to get it back - and I've seen it returned.

It is paid through the court system and the mother lives in Illinois. We pay health insurance and half of all deductibles and prescription costs as well. As mentioned before we did notify the court with the previous child in person that the support was to end in 3 months and we completed some form and yet it continued to be taken out... We went to court 3 times ended up having to pay for an attorney which was more money out of our pocket this time we want to get a jump on the process. So any advice is much appreciated.

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Originally Posted by Out of Answers

It is paid through the court system and the mother lives in Illinois. We pay health insurance and half of all deductibles and prescription costs as well. As mentioned before we did notify the court with the previous child in person that the support was to end in 3 months and we completed some form and yet it continued to be taken out...We went to court 3 times ended up having to pay for an attorney which was more money out of our pocket this time we want to get a jump on the process. So any advice is much appreciated.

Let's see how quickly Stinawords can gallop over here -

Is the child still in school. In some states it is stipulated that child support will continue as long as the child is going to school. If not sue the mother.

Yes she's still in school but is due to graduate soon and as I said we want to get a jump on what we need to do well in advance since 3 months didn't seem to be enough and the form provided by the state office wasn't enough to get the support stopped on the first one. We know we still have to pay until she graduates but we want to be sure it stops when it's supposed to this time...

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Originally Posted by kwwinny59

Is the child still in school. In some states it is stipulated that child support will continue as long as the child is going to school. If not sue the mother.

Child support is collected by an agency - what are you suggesting that OP sue the mother for at this time?

Not wanting to actually do anything at this time... Just trying to find out what can be done other than going to the state agency we were told to go to the last time to stop it which didn't work... This was just a shot in the dark anyway...

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Originally Posted by Out of Answers

Not wanting to actually do anything at this time..........Just trying to find out what can be done other than going to the state agency we were told to go to the last time to stop it which didn't work.........This was just a shot in the dark anyway.....

I'd write the letters to the Agency AND to the mother - advising that the child will be emancipated on X date, it is your understanding that support should stop on that date. If payments are subtracted from wages, send a copy to the employer. The employer can do nothing without legal notification but will put him/her on alert.

There's not a lot to be done until the child is actually emancipated - the Courts won't order relief of any sort in anticipation of an event.

If this has been a problem in the past start creating a paper trail now.

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Originally Posted by Out of Answers

and yet it continued to be taken out....

I assume that it is automatically deducted from your wages. If that's the case, you need to get a court to acknowledge that support has ended and bring that to your employer to cease deductions.

You said the mother was in IL but your husband is in IN. Which of those states has juridiction? Who told you to file emacipation paperwork? I'm not saying that it won't work but generally you just have to bring all of your proof with you to show a judge that the child is no longer a child.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

Child support is collected by an agency - what are you suggesting that OP sue the mother for at this time?

All I am saying is if the agency continues to take funds out the mother is still receiving the money, and using that money. As far as I know you can go after the mother. It is like any agency if you know you are not entitled to those funds any longer you need to go after the person who is collecting.

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Originally Posted by kwwinny59

All I am saying is if the agency continues to take funds out the mother is still receiving the money, and using that money. As far as I know you can go after the mother. It is like any agency if you know you are not entitled to those funds any longer you need to go after the person who is collecting.

Exactly what was said at the beginning and that's why the OP needs a paper trail, although apparently this happened with the older child and none of the money was returned to the OP.

Nothing can be done at this time, of course, other than starting the paper trail.