Watching your child grow up can feel like it happens overnight. One moment they’re starting school, and before you know it, they’re preparing for college. For many parents paying child support, this raises an important question: does child support automatically end when a child goes off to college? The answer isn’t always as simple as it seems.
In California, child support obligations depend largely on the language in your court order and specific legal rules. In the video below, we’ll explain when child support typically ends, whether college affects your obligation, and the steps you may need to take before stopping payments.
If you’re unsure whether your child support obligation should continue, contact our office to schedule a consultation and review your court order.
Transcript:
I remember the day my daughter was born and today she started middle school. How time flies. Next thing I know, she’s going to be off to college. But can I stop paying child support the moment she goes to college? Well, in this video, we’re going to dive into just that.
For those who don’t know me, I’m Sina Mohajer with Mohajer Law Firm. We specialize in family law, estate planning, civil litigation, and personal injury.
In these videos, I like to tackle complex legal issues and try to simplify them for our viewers in order to give you the information and knowledge to protect your rights and act accordingly. So if you like the contents of this video, hit that like button and don’t forget to subscribe so you’re always informed of any new videos being posted. And if you find this video helpful to any other California parent, please share this video so they can be informed as well.
Can You Stop Paying Support When Your Child Reaches College Age?
Now, in my prior videos, I’ve addressed when your child reaches the age to go to college and how that affects custody or how it affects support, but specifically in this video, I want to address how you can stop paying support. And it’s very important to always look back at your court order. If your court order is silent on the issue of when support ends, the very simple answer is no, you cannot stop automatically once your child reaches the age of college years or once your child goes to college.
At What Age Does Child Support End in California?
You have to realize the general rule when it comes to child support. The court has jurisdiction to make child support orders until your child reaches the age of 18, or 19 if they’re a full-time high school student. Now, if your court order doesn’t have that exact same language and it just says you have to pay child support of X dollars per month and it’s silent on the duration or termination date, then you cannot automatically stop paying because if you do, you’re going to end up owing arrears, and arrears accrue interest, and then you’re never going to get rid of that until you pay it.
When Do You Continue Paying Child Support During College?
Now, does college ever require the continued payment of child support? That depends. There are exceptions to the 18, or 19 full-time high school student age, where the court has jurisdiction to order more child support. But if you don’t fall under one of those exceptions, then it’s really dependent on the agreement you make with the other parent. And you could do this during your divorce stage or your parentage stage as far as how college will be handled at that time. And if you do come to an agreement, it’s very important to concisely and specifically enter the verbiage of that agreement into a written document and make sure that the court orders it.
For example, if your court order says that child support shall continue until the child graduates high school, then that is a definitive mark in time where child support will terminate once they graduate from high school.
Now, generally speaking, and I can’t address every single case, but generally every judgment that I have seen has always had the verbiage of child support being paid until the child reaches the age of 18, or 19 and is a full-time high school student, or upon further court order. If your judgment or court order has that specific language, then yes, there is an automatic time where child support will terminate.
If it doesn’t have that language, then there isn’t a set time and you need a court order to do so. But if you and the other parent agree to extend that time in writing and you put it into a stipulation or a court order, then it would be mandatory that they continue doing that until the definitive date ends.
How Do You Stop Paying Child Support Once Your Child Goes to College?
So how do you stop paying child support once your child goes off to college? Like I said, go back to the court order and look at the specific language contained within the four corners of that document. If the language says, which I think it would, until the age of 18, or 19 a full-time high school student, or until further court order, then you’ve got your answer.
If it doesn’t say anything, you cannot automatically stop making payments because you will still continue to owe that legally, and anything you don’t pay will fall under arrears and will accrue interest. So at that point, you have no other choice but to either negotiate an end date with the other parent or file a request for order.
Filing a Request for Order
And if you file a request for order requesting the court to terminate child support, then you need to establish the evidence to support your request, for example, a birth certificate to demonstrate age if they fall outside of 18, or outside of 19 and are still a full-time high school student, proof of their graduation from high school, or anything that falls under the code that would warrant termination, the court will go ahead and grant it. At that point, it would be safe to stop paying support.
Common Mistakes Regarding the End of Child Support
So what are some common mistakes that I’ve seen? One is assuming that your child support automatically ends once your child goes off to college. We’ve talked about so many different scenarios where that might not even be the case. Another mistake is not reviewing your court documents that are going to establish the rules and what you’re permitted and not permitted to do. Not checking those documents is a huge mistake I see. Another one is entering into verbal agreements and not reducing them to a legally binding document.
A verbal agreement is great, and I encourage parents to always try to come to an agreement, but put that agreement in writing. Otherwise, there’s no enforceability. The last biggest, most common mistake I see is parents stopping payment of their child support before court approval. Remember, if your court order doesn’t say and you didn’t check it, that’s mistake number one. If you stop making payments, that’s mistake number two. You need court approval to ensure that you don’t fall under arrears and you don’t have to pay more than what you’re obligated to pay.
Contact Mohajer Law Firm for Questions About Child Support
So in this video, we addressed a lot of issues regarding child support, when you can stop it, when you’re legally obligated to continue paying support, what some common mistakes are, and how to request approval from the court to stop paying child support once your child reaches the age of college.
If you have questions about your case or you’re in a similar situation where you’re not sure what needs to be done or how to go about it, I welcome you to contact our office for a consultation. I’m happy to sit down with you one on one to explore your options and figure out the best strategy to take for you and your child.
And if you like the contents of this video, hit that like button and don’t forget to subscribe so you’re always informed of any new videos being posted.