Brooklyn Terminate Child Support

A Brooklyn terminate child support lawyer is the first person you should contact if you believe that your case meets the circumstances to end child support obligations. Both parents have a financial responsibility to support their children until age 21. However, there are certain circumstances when a parent's obligation to pay child support discontinues, and one of the most common questions asked of a Brooklyn terminate child support attorney is when will my child support payments stop, and how can I request to stop paying my child support. If the child is attending college full-time or still living at home with a parent, the parties likely will still need to continue paying children support. Make sure you know what court to file in.

Unless the parents have agreed to something else, child support stops at age 21. It can even be put in their legal separation or the divorce agreement that the parties have agreed to pay until age 22, such that the child can finish his or her education. A terminate child support attorney in Brooklyn, however, will assist you when you believe that the child support payments need to be discontinued permanently. A lower child support attorney in Brooklyn can help you if you wish to decrease your current child support amount payments because you have lost your job. However, a child can become emancipated. This might also influence child custody.

A child is entitled to be supported by his or her parents until they reach age 21. If the child is still under age 21, however, there are multiple factors that could be met to discontinue the child support obligation. If the child is in the military, is self-supporting, or is married and is still under the age of 21, the child could be considered emancipated, and the parents' support obligation will discontinue. If the child leaves the parent's home and has no visitation or interaction with the parent, then the parent who is responsible for making children support payments can discontinue these payments as well.

It is important to realize that you cannot simply discontinue children support payments without first requesting the legal process of termination of child support. Termination of child support requires a lawyer to assist you with showing the court that the child is officially emancipated. If the child is not emancipated but there have been significant and continuing circumstances in the case, a modification of child support may be more appropriate. You’ll need to talk to your lawyer to figure out what’s right for you.

Termination of child support has a sense of finality to it, whereas lowering child support is based on your current circumstances that are outside your control, such as being unable to pay your bills because of an involuntary job loss or reduction in pay. In either of these cases, a terminate child support attorney in Brooklyn is necessary to help you pull together the data to illustrate to the court that the circumstances have changed such that you can get a reduced payment.

You cannot stop paying child supports without permission from the court to do this. If you stop making payments when you were legally obligated to do so, the other party can hold you accountable for arrears. This situation can get even worse because you get behind financially and this could affect an outcome in your child custody case as well. Much like changing an order for child support, you can request changes in child custody. The other parent might try to allege that you don’t deserve extra parenting time because you’re behind on child support. Don’t get yourself in this situation.