Author: James de Stefano, Esq.
After what may have been a lengthy
and/or difficult divorce, the smoke has cleared and life has finally returned
to “normal.” The last thing you want to
think about is having to someday readdress any of the legal issues you just
finished negotiating down to the last detail.
You certainly don’t want to go back to court. However,
if you pay child support, the termination date is not as straightforward as you
may think. Many people wrongfully assume
that once a child turns 18, child support ends.
Not so.
Others understand
that various life events may declare their child emancipated, thereby
terminating their support obligation, but they assume that they can simply stop
making the payments upon the occurrence of any of those events regardless of
whether their ex agrees that support should end and without involving the court
system in their lives again. Again, not
so – especially if you pay support through the county probation department. The probation department will usually garnish
your wages (if you pay via wage garnishment) or increase your arrearages in
their system unless and until a judge tells them to do otherwise. This can possibly continue through your
child’s adulthood if they never receive a court order telling them to stop.
In New Jersey, child support does not
automatically end because of a specific event.
YOU have to take the initiative to obtain the court’s permission stop
making payments. If your ex is cooperative
and you are both on the same page, this can be very simple. You can both sign a Consent Order that
officially declares your child emancipated and submit it to the court for the
judge’s signature and “stamp of approval.”
However, if you and your ex do not agree, you may need to file a Motion with
the court to request that your child be declared emancipated and to officially
terminate child support. Until then, you
are legally obligated to keep paying that support.
New Jersey courts recognize that child
support can be terminated once your child is officially emancipated. If a skilled matrimonial lawyer drafted your
Settlement Agreement, the child support section will include a detailed
description of which life events will trigger emancipation. Examples of such events are your child
reaching eighteen and graduating from high school (whichever is later) assuming
that your child does not enroll in college full-time, your child discontinuing
full-time college, joining the armed forces or getting married. These are a just a few examples, but there
are many exceptions to these examples. Every case is unique. But again, just
because your Settlement Agreement or court order states that your child is
emancipated upon a certain event does not mean that you can take it upon
yourself to stop paying support when the event occurs. You must obtain a court order that formally
emancipates your child and terminates your obligation to support him or her.
If you have questions about your
child support obligation, please contact an attorney at Ruvolo Law Group. We can help you
understand how the law may apply to your facts and what your best course of
action would be.
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