[whirlwind2008]

My stepdaughter will be 21 in July. She had been attending a cosmetology course from her senior year in high school to?? She did not complete all of the requirements for this course. Then in Aug 07 she enrolled in one semester at a community college. She then quit the community college, leaving in Dec 07. As of May 1st, she had not been attending post-secondary school for four consecutive months. She has enrolled to start classes in August 08 at a state college. We had filed for emancipation on May 1st. Her mother is taking us to court to 1) not stop support/not emacipating, 2) pay our part of the state college tuition. Are there any rules governing this situation? She will be 21 before the start of classes in August. She has started and quit two previous educations. How long are we obligated to pay?

[George_1950]

Welcome to AMHD. Was the stepdaughter's mother and her dad married? And is there a divorce decree with child support award included? Does it specify either ages or events after which support terminates?

[Fr_Chuck]

The terms of the child custody agreement and the child support agreement will be in effect. Read it for exactly what it says.
And have an attorney.

[whirlwind2008]

Welcome to AMHD. Was the stepdaughter's mother and her dad married? And is there a divorce decree with child support award included? Does it specify either ages or events after which support terminates?

Her Mom and Dad were married. They divorced about ten years ago. The last child support judgement had a judgement for us (dad and stepmom) paying for the daughter's beauty school for school years 05-06 and 06-07. The judgement does not specify any obligation for schooling beyond that. A new wrinkle is that my husband's son is 18 and just graduated from high school. He said he is going to community college in the fall. His ex has not asked us to pay any for this schooling (yet). This could be because he is not really planning on attending school. If he does not enroll in school by October, he could be emancipated, too. Any help and advice is appreciated.

[George_1950]

As to emancipation: " Emancipation: Support Orders for Two or More Children. Support orders for two or more children, under the Guidelines, are stated as an in gross or total amount rather than on a per child basis. The total obligation will not decrease when the oldest child reaches twenty‑one (21) years of age, or upon the occurrence of some other series of events that gives rise to emancipation, absent judicial modification of the order. Conversely, the law recognizes that where an order is framed in terms of an amount per child, an abatement of respective shares will occur upon each child's emancipation.

The concept of a pro‑rata delineation of support is generally inconsistent with the economic policy underlying the Guidelines (See "Economic Data Used in Developing Guidelines" in "Commentary" to Support Guideline 1). That policy recognizes that the amount of support required for two children is 1.5 times that required to support one child. The multiplication factor decreases as the number of children increases. If support were reduced by one half when the first of two children was emancipated, the remaining amount of support would be significantly below the Guideline amount for one child at the same parental income levels.

Support orders may, however, be framed to allow for automatic abatement of support upon the emancipation of the first child if that emancipation is by reaching age twenty‑one (21) or by virtue of some other significant event that will not be disputed between the parties.

EXAMPLE: Assume a combined weekly adjusted income of $1,000.00 provided solely by the noncustodial parent, and an order for support of three children. No other factors being considered, a support order would provide for payment of $285 per week for three children; $228 weekly upon the oldest child reaching age twenty‑one (21) years of age; and $152 per week after the second oldest child reaches twenty‑one (21), to and until the youngest child's twenty‑first birthday, unless otherwise modified by the court.

It is recommended that such a delineation should be an exception and not the rule. It is incumbent upon counsel who represent parents in dissolutions to attempt to familiarize them with the need to judicially amend the order of support when children are emancipated and to discuss with the parties what constitutes emancipation."
See: Child Support Rules And Guidelines

Lots of info here: Welcome to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's Office

Check this: Indiana Law - Until What Age Does Child Support Typically Run?