Child Support

questions & answers

Question: when a child turns 18 & has graduated but is a fulltime college student will the court even continue to require support for that child?

Answer:

http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/SuperiorCourt/FamilyCourt/postDecree.asp#n5

My child is over 18 and I am still paying child support. How can I have it stopped?Unless a child is disabled, the obligation to pay child support stops once a child turns 18 and is out of high school. If the child is still in high school after the age of 18, the child support stops when the child turns 19. If no other current support payments are owed for support of younger children, for spousal maintenance (alimony), or for arrears (back support or back alimony), the child support order stops by itself by operation of law or according to the terms of the child support order. However, there is usually an "Order of Assignment" that orders your employer to deduct the support payments from your pay and to send the money directly to the state. Check the court file or with your employer's payroll office to determine whether there is a "stop-date" on the current Order of Assignment and whether that date is correct. If there is a stop date and the date is correct, you do not need to do anything. If either piece of information is missing or incorrect, you will need to ask the Court to issue an "Order Stopping Order of Assignment".

If the other parent is willing to provide his or her notarized signature along with yours on an "Agreement to Stop Order of Assignment", there is no filing fee for filing to stop the order by agreement. If one of the parties never filed a response to the original decree ordering child support, then a response fee must be paid by the party who did not file a response. If you do not want to ask the other parent to provide their notarized signature on an agreement or the other parent is unwilling to provide the signature, you may file a Petition to stop the Order of Assignment. There will be a filing fee for this petition which may include the response fee if not previously paid as mentioned above.