If you have to pay child support, you may wonder: Will my child support payments automatically stop?
The law on child support modification and termination is found here. It says,
“The amount of a child support order shall not be construed to be an amount per child unless specified by the district or administrative court in the order. A child reaching the age of majority or otherwise ceasing to be entitled to support pursuant to the support order shall constitute a material change in circumstances but shall not automatically serve to modify the order. When the last child of the parents ceases to be entitled to support, the child support obligation is automatically terminated as to prospective child support only.” (Emphasis added.)
Here’s what this means: Suppose you have two children, and the court orders you to pay child support in the amount of $500 per month. Then, the oldest child turns 18. Can you then automatically decide to only pay $250 per month? No. You have to go to court and ask the judge to modify the order based on the fact that the older child is now 18. The judge may find that the child reaching 18 is a “material change in circumstances” and modify the child support order, and reduce your child support accordingly. But, you can’t just decide to pay only $250, because one child reaching 18 does not modify the support order automatically.
But when your younger child turns 18, it’s a different story. The law says, “When the last child of the parents ceases to be entitled to support, the child support obligation is automatically terminated.” So when your younger child turns 18, then you can simply stop paying child support and you don’t have to go to court.
Also note that the law says, “When the last child of the parents ceases to be entitled to support, the child support obligation is automatically terminated as to prospective child support only.” This means that if your youngest child is 18, and you owe back child support, you are still obligated to pay the arrearage – you just don’t have to pay any future child support.
Child support may be automatically halted if you are incarcerated
If you are incarcerated for more than 180 days, there is a rebuttable presumption that you can’t pay child support. On the first day of the month after you enter the prison or jail, your child support obligation will automatically abate without any court action. Ninety days after you are released, your monthly child support obligation will begin again, and will revert to the amount required in the order that was entered before you were incarcerated.
However, if you are incarcerated for contempt or court for failing to pay child support, your incarceration will not stop your child support obligation, and your obligation to pay child support will continue to accrue while you are incarcerated.
Death of payor automatically terminates child support
If the payor dies, his or her child support obligation automatically terminates without court action. However, if the payor owed back child support at the time of his death, a lien may be filed against the payor’s estate for the arrearage.
Other circumstances under which child support may be modified or terminated
A court may modify your child support if there is “a material change of circumstances.”
A material change of circumstances may include, but is not limited to:
1. A change in the needs of the child
2. A change in the income of the parents
3. A change in annual child care expenses
4. A change in the cost of medical or dental insurance of the child.
However, modification of child support is not automatic under any of these circumstances. You still have to go to court to get your child support obligation changed. The law says that the court must decide changes in child support by “apply[ing] the principles of equity.” The law doesn’t define what this means, and in practice, it gives judges great discretion.
Circumstances that don’t change child support
If the state changes the child support guidelines
There is a state-prescribed formula for calculating child support obligations. (Find out about this formula here.) If the state changes this formula, you’ll still have to pay child support under the old formula that was in effect when the court entered the child support order. The Oklahoma child support statute says, “Modification of the Child Support Guideline Schedule shall not alone be a material change in circumstances for child support orders.”
Marriage of the child
Also, marriage of the minor child does not terminate child support.
Child support payments don’t necessarily stop when the child turns 18
There are several circumstances under which child support doesn’t stop when a child turns 18:
1. If the child is eighteen and still attending high school, the noncustodial parent’s child support obligation continues until the child graduates or until the child turns 20, whichever occurs first. If the child is still attending high school at 18, child support continues automatically, and no court hearing is necessary for the child support to continue past age 18.
2. In a divorce or custody decree, the parents may agree that the child support will continue after a child turns 18. (Some parents have agreed that the noncustodial parent will pay for the child’s college education.) If the parents agree to continue child support payments after a child turns 18, and this agreement is filed with the court, this agreement is a binding court order, and may be enforced as any other court order.
3. If a child is disabled, the child support obligation may continue after the child turns 18. A court may order this if:
a. the child is unable to support himself because of his disability, and
b. if the disability existed, or the cause of the disability was known to exist, before the child’s eighteenth birthday.
Have questions about changing or terminating child support? Contact the Persaud Law Office
At the Persaud Law Office, we’ve represented many parents – both payors and payees – in child support cases. If you are paying or receiving child support, and you want to know about changing or ending child support, call us today.
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