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kikifn69 · Feb 9, 2009, 04:44 PM

I have a 16 year old stepson who we pay child support for and we live in Indiana. He is currently much to our dismay not doing well in school, but we have high hopes for him to go to college. I believe we are obligated to continue with support until he is 21 according to our state, but my question is this: does the amount we currently pay change if we are paying for his college? The original divorce decree states that college is supposed to be split 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 between both parents and child, but we have set up a 529 account for him and have suspicions that his mother will not be able to help pay for college. My stepson is disabled and I do not believe it would be feasible for him to pay for a third of his college unless he just takes out a loan which I would hate for him to have to do. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I want to do right by my stepson and am willing to do whatever I have to do to help him get through school and become a happy productive member of society, but I'm just not sure if we should have to keep paying support after age 18 if we are paying for college too. Is there a law regarding this? Thanks for your consideration.

this8384 · Feb 9, 2009, 05:23 PM

Usually this is spelled out in the custody agreement. I don't know the laws in your state, so I'll quote the laws in mine, which is Wisconsin. A non-custodial parent is typically responsible to pay support only until the child(ren) is 18 years old and becomes a legal adult; the exception to that is if they are attending college and/or living at home. If you agreed to pay for 1/3 of his college, I don't know how that works into the child support agreement; you may want to review your paperwork again.

If your stepson is disabled, is he receiving social security for his disability?

kikifn69 · Feb 9, 2009, 06:12 PM

No he is not receiving social security, but he is in a wheelchair from a birth defect.

cdad · Feb 9, 2009, 06:20 PM

Try to realize that he may get some income from other sources including scholarships so the 1/3 figure isn't really 1/3. The other thing is he might be entitled to SSD when he turns 18. He also can apply for full ride scholarships and he may get one. As far as paying support after 18 mostly its going to depend on where he will be living when he goes to college. Maybe it might be enough to cover the ex's 1/3 or if he's still living at home then that's a no brainer. So there could be many options at this point and for him the world is unlimited. For now I think I would take a wait and see as to what happens before making any fuss. Hang in there and keep being proactive and positive and maybe things will all work out without any effort.
You still have a few years before the college reality sets in.