Planning for the future and balancing our present responsibilities is what we as adults do all the time. There are times when you need to be able to look to the future to plan your present course of action. Determining when child support comes to an end is one of those times. Being able to prepare for an end to your child support responsibilities can help you chart a course for your savings. When your child support obligation does come to an end you can prepare for the next stage of your life.
In today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, we will discuss issues related to child support in Texas. Specifically, when your obligation to pay child support comes to an end. Along the way, we will focus our attention on issues like your child’s high school graduation, the special needs of your family and commonly asked questions. The answers you need to those questions can be found by contacting the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our experienced family law attorneys offer free of charge consultations six days a week. These consultations are available over the phone, via video, or at one of our office locations across the Lone Star State.
When does child support come to an end for most families?
The key to understanding child support is to look at your court orders. In today’s blog post, we are going to share information about the law in Texas. However, what is contained in your court orders is ultimately what you need to know. Going back and looking through your court orders with an eye for detail is incredibly important. Families like yours can run into major issues when they do not know what their court orders say.
Most of the time, a child support obligation ends when your child turns eighteen or graduates from high school. This reflects a reality that at eighteen most children are ready to either begin work or go on to college. At eighteen your child is officially an adult. While we cannot guarantee that this is when your obligation to pay child support comes to an end this likely is when you can stop paying child support.
Of course, read your child support orders. Preferably, you should do this when your case is coming to an end. Understanding the orders before you sign them is an important part of looking out for the best interests of your child. The better you understand your court orders the better you can serve your child. Ultimately that is what you need to focus your attention on. Speaking of that, here is a real-life story that involves a dad who didn’t quite get the memo to read through his court orders.
A real-life story turned into a cautionary tale
Recently, a mother walked into our office and asked to speak to an attorney. She was the primary conservator of an eighteen-year-old high school senior. This was a meeting that occurred in the Spring- immediately before her daughter was graduating high school. We did not know it at the time but that piece of information would be very important to the family law case she was about to begin.
The issue that this mother experienced was not unique. She hadn’t received child support from her ex-husband in a few months. This was odd since she had faithfully received child support on time and in full for five years after her divorce. No issues whatsoever with child support until earlier this year. The checks just stopped coming in. She never made a big deal about it and kept the missed payments to herself. However, eventually, she got frustrated enough and came to speak with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan.
This mom was frustrated but just as confused. Why would her ex-husband stop the child support after all these years? The two co-parents had a good working relationship when it came to issues involving their children. They were always talking about the kids and were always willing to set aside differences to find a middle ground. Now, however, that seemingly came to an end. This mother was getting more and more frustrated. Her phone calls over the past week hadn’t been returned. That is why she decided to reach out to an attorney.
The consequences of not understanding court orders
Mom in this story ended up hiring our office to try and enforce the court order. An enforcement case involves detailing to the court the specific instances where a court order was not followed properly. From there you can ask the court for relief if it is found that your co-parent violated the court order. Relief can come in the form of fines, penalties, or even jail time for your co-parent. When it comes to child support there are serious consequences for not paying.
What our office typically does when facing a child support enforcement case is to send out a courtesy letter to the other parent. We inform him or her that we are representing their co-parent. Then, we address the issue directly. Why haven’t you paid child support? Call us and let us know why. There may be an opportunity to address the situation head-on. Avoiding a child support enforcement case is a nice outcome if that can be achieved.
After sending that letter we were able to speak to the child’s father. There was an honest mistake which led to him no longer paying child support. He mistakenly believed that his obligation to pay ended on his child’s eighteenth birthday- not her high school graduation. In actuality, the court orders stated that his obligation to pay child support ended at the latter of those two dates. A simple misread led to a major issue. He negotiated with us and decided to pay a lump sum of back child. Understand when the obligation to pay comes to an end by reading your court orders.
Work with an attorney to avoid overpaying child support
On the other hand, you also do not want to put yourself in a situation where you overpay child support, either. Although payments tend to go through the Office of the Attorney General-child support division there are opportunities for you to adjust how much you pay. Sometimes if you misread your court orders you may put a little extra into a payment here and there. This is easy to do if you fall behind in paying child support and instead find yourself paying “back” or past-due support.
If you do not understand your court orders then you put yourself in a position where you need to learn what they say. In some situations, this is not difficult. However, if you do not understand the language used by the attorneys who drafted your orders then you are in trouble. As you can see from the story we just told it is easy enough to misunderstand the court orders in your case. Even well-read folks have trouble with court orders. There is a reason why people in your shoes make mistakes all the time with their child support payments.
With that said, an attorney can help you better understand your court orders. It is best to ask questions about those orders after your case. However, you may also decide to hire an attorney even after your child support case ends. For instance, the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan can be hired for limited-scope representation opportunities. This includes helping you read your court orders. Come, give us a call to learn all the different ways that our attorneys can serve you and your family.
A disabled child may change the circumstances surrounding child support
The typical circumstances change when you have a child who suffers from a disability. The idea that a disabled child can turn 18 and/or graduate from high school and support themselves is a difficult one to maintain. Many children who suffer from disabilities do so for their entire lives. In those circumstances you need to avoid situations where your child falls between the cracks, so to speak. By this, I mean that you and your co-parent have hopefully prepared a plan to make sure that your child is cared for from a financial standpoint.
That means extending child support beyond their high school years. Of course, every family’s situation is different. You know what your child needs as far as financial support is concerned. Think about out-of-pocket medical expenses which are not covered by insurance. Sometimes your child may need a medication that is not covered by insurance. Or an experimental medical procedure may be in the process of being approved but insurance does not want to cover it yet.
On top of that, most children can only stay on their parent’s insurance until age 26. That gives your child some years after high school, but you may need to look into other options. Medicaid is one choice, but you need to be aware of all the different options made available to your child. Talk with your family law attorney to learn more about what you can choose from. One of the things that a family suffers from in your position is simply not knowing what is out there. You can perform some research on your own but turn that research into planning for your case.
What about college tuition? Is that covered by standard child support?
One of the interesting questions that the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan receive has to do with college. Specifically: is college covered by child support? Officially, the answer to that question is “no.” College costs are not covered by child support. Additionally, child support cannot be extended to pay for college costs.
Bearing that in mind you and your co-parent can still plan several different ways to pay for college between yourselves. Parents come up with different and creative ways to pay for college as a part of their child custody orders. These agreements take place in a different section than child support, however. Your co-parent may be responsible for opening a college savings account and funding it with a certain amount of money each month.
Another solution would be to account for college in a prenuptial or nuptial property agreement. It may be too late for you to do have done that now. However, any parent reading this who is either married or engaged can bring up this possibility to your co-parent if you already have children together.
When can child support end for your child before age 18/high school graduation?
So far in today’s blog post, we have focused on paying child support beyond age 18 as an exception to the general child support rule. However, let’s also discuss the possibility that child support could end for your family before this period. Termination of child support can occur earlier under a few different circumstances. First, is marriage. If your child marries before the end of high school or their 18th birthday, then child support also ends. Marriage before the age of 16 requires parental consent. Next is enlistment in the military. Finally becoming legally emancipated is another way to end your obligation to pay child support.
What do you need to do to end your child support obligation early?
One thing you should not do is just stop paying child support if you intend to terminate the obligation. Rather, you need to follow through with a legal process before your obligation terminates. File a petition to terminate your child support obligation in the same court that issued the support orders in the first place. Recall that if your employer is withholding child support for you then a separate order needs to be filed to terminate the withholding. Filing fees and other costs associated with the case are paid, as well.
One major point to make is that just because your child has reached the age where support can be terminated does not mean that your obligation to pay any sort of child support comes to an end. Rather, you are still on the hook for any past-due child support that you owe. In some situations, you may have fallen behind in paying child support. Now any payment plans for past-due support generally must be paid out. This is true even if your child has reached age 18 or graduated from high school.
More information on past-due child support
Past due child support is also known as child support arrears. Keep in mind that your child support cannot be officially terminated until your past due child support is attended to. Income withholding, for example, would still occur even if your child has aged out of child support. Make sure that you are caught up on child support before you start the process to formally terminate your obligation to pay.
You can verify how much you owe in child support on the website for the Office of the Attorney General. There, you can access your account and verify what, if anything, must still be paid. Odds are that your co-parent will let you know if you owe anything. It may not be much of a mystery to you. However, in other circumstances, you may be unaware that you still owe child support. That is the situation we are describing here. Avoiding the costs of a child support termination case is best if you can do so.
Final thoughts on termination of child support in Texas
There is a lot you need to keep an eye on when it comes to child support termination. One of the most frustrating parts of a case is not knowing what your true obligation is. Either you were told wrong by a friend or simply understood your orders incorrectly. In any event, go through your court orders before you jump to conclusions. Sometimes people make mistakes. Since you are a person you are capable of making a mistake, as well. The best way to avoid mistakes is to understand the court orders.
It is also possible to modify your court orders. This means looking into your present circumstances and determining if a material and substantial change has occurred since the last time you were in court. A change may also have occurred in the life of your co-parent or your child. Pay attention to what is going on around you. Child support obligations can be terminated, increased, or decreased if the situation calls for it.
There is a lot to keep track of when it comes to child support. The last thing you want to do is find yourself with more questions than answers. Is that where you are now? Reach out to the Law Office of Bryan Fagan to find out more about our office and how we can help you.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan offer free of charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are a great way for you to learn more about the world of Texas family law. Before signing a document or negotiating on a subject you do not know well, contact our office. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you during an important part of your life. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan is on your side.
Evan Hochschild was raised in Houston, TX and graduated from Cypress Creek High School. He went on to graduate from Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX with an undergraduate degree in Political Science. While in college, Evan was a four-year letterman on the Cross Country team.
Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle before him, Evan attended law school after he completed in his undergraduate studies. He graduated from St. Mary’s University School of Law and has practiced in a variety of areas in the law- including family law.
Mr. Hochschild is guided by principles which place the interests of clients first. Additionally, Evan seeks to provide information and support for his clients with the heart of a teacher.
Evan and his wife have four small children together. He enjoys afternoons out and about with his family, teaching Sunday school at his church and exercising. A veteran attorney of fourteen years, Mr. Hochschild excels in communicating complex ideas in family law simply and directly.
