Graduation is almost here for many high schoolers throughout the United States. Interestingly enough, this can have a major impact on child support requirements for divorced parents of graduates. Generally, child support terminates when a child turns 18 or graduates from high school, depending on which of those events takes place first. If your child is graduating this month, you may be able to talk with the courts about terminating support after the child has completed high school.
This isn't always the case. There are some situations where the child support obligation won't end the moment that the child graduates from high school. In some cases, a parent may even be required to extend child support and care for his or her child while that child goes to college. Normally, parents need to do this with an extension.
If your graduating child is only one of several children, then you may need to modify your child support payments upon graduation. There may be younger children that you are still required to care for, but you will be able to reduce the amount that you are paying to accommodate for your child that graduated. The child support doesn't reduce automatically. Instead, you will want to seek a modification with the courts and with the help of an attorney.
Normally, child support is arranged so that the paying spouse gives a lump sum to cover all the children's expenses combined. Sometimes, a paying spouse may be required to pay the same amount of money despite the fact that one child has graduated. This is at the court's discretion. Sometimes, the ex-spouse may request to extend a support order. If a child is mentally or physically disabled, a support order will almost always be extended. Also, if the child is attending college, a judge may extend support until the college graduation. If you need more information about child support, talk with a San Fernando divorce attorney at Cutter & Lax today!
