My 18 yo, (19 this month). Daughter is severely disabled and has been since birth. She currently attends high school in CA & will do so until the age of 22 under the IDEA. Her father has no visitation per his request but has been paying his court ordered monthly child support. He has never contributed to her health care costs. I pay all out of pocket expenses and medical, dental and vision insurance. I need to know if I can take him back to court to get the child support continued throughout her life as she never will be self sufficient. I know there are laws regarding this but do not know how to get them enforced. Famiily code section 3587 is vague. Please help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lgschrader

... Famiily code section 3587 is vague. Please help.

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As I read it,

"3587. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court has the
authority to approve a stipulated agreement by the parents to pay
for the support of an adult child or for the continuation of child
support after a child attains the age of 18 years and to make a
support order to effectuate the agreement."

It is limited to a "stipulated agreement". It speaks in terms of approving a stipulated agreement

• "... to pay for ...", "or
• for the continuation of ..."; and

Making an order

• "to effectuate the agreement."

I don't think it's authority for a support order in the absence of agreement.

You should have been in court already over this. Because the child is disabled you can get the child support extended while the child is living with you. Also as an offset you can apply for ssdi. Since there is a disability involved. Also it should have been on record that there may be extrodanary expenses associated with her care and the father should be paying 1/2 of all out of pocket expenses.

Have you tried going to Social Security Disability office and applying for disability for your child yet? That would solve your long term financial needs and medical costs needs as your chilld would be eligible for Medicaid coverage in 2 years.

If she is turned down once you can then retain an attorney to appeal her case and hopefully get her approved. This will take some time so best to get started ASAP on this.