I believe that he can decide once he turns 18 but my question would be, is he not planning to finish high school? If he was kicked out is he going to be allowed back in? Or would it be a different school?
If he does move back the child support would only be for 6 months or less until he graduates. If he is not planning to finish high school, then I think you can get out of paying child support when he turns 18. I believe that the law states age 18 or upon graduation as long as they are working towards graduation after the age of 18.
I understand your concern though…hopefully an attorney will respond.
Thank-you stepmother for some insight, my son would attempt to attend a different high school, atleast that is his so called plan.
Another question I have is if he is doing as well as he seems, why does he want to go back to the crowd that influenced him badly to begin with? Does he think that they won’t have the same effect or that they have changed?
You could offer to help him “get settled” whereever he wants as a graduation present if he will stay and finish high school there. First months rent & deposit, power connection…he’ll be 18 so other than not having to pay his own way and take care of himself I can’t really see the attraction of moving back in with his mother.
I could give you all the “drama” in why he says he wants to go back home, and none of them make since, ie" I want to graduate with me friends", " I’m ok now, ive grown up", and bla,bla,bla. He claims that I have sheltered him and yes I have, I was given a trouble kid that could not be trusted, so with that I made a point to be in his bussiness and to be very careful as far as letting him “do his own thing”. I gave him responsibility that any 16/17 year old should have, like…getting a job, understand what finachel responsibility is all about and so forth. His biggest argument is he has no friends here, well thats not my problum, if he doesnt try and make new friends then he wont have any. When he was living down in NC he was nothing but a pay check to his mom, so his grandparents showerd him with what ever he wanted to include money and spoiled him crazy. He comes to live with me and that is not the case in my house. He is blinded by the fact that the same old crowd that he got in trouble with is still there and although you might have “grown-up” alittle they have not. He is simply being a very defient 17 year old right now and I will not/do not want to lose my now promising son to the trash that sucked him in to a world of failure, but my fear is that the great NC law network will take my voice away when he turns 18 and I will be forced to let my son walk back down the road of distruction.
I lose sleep because of this thought…[V]
Unfortunately, your suspicions are true, once he is eighteen the court cannot determine where he lives, but you can be ordered to pay child support until he graduates from high school.
Helena M. Nevicosi
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm
4101 Lake Boone Trail, Suite 500
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607
919.787.6668 main phone
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Charlotte, NC 28262
Main Phone: (704)307.4600
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My question is this:
My son will be turning 18 in December and has told me that when he turns 18 that he wants to go back to NC and live with his mom. My son is a senior in high school and came to live with me last year because he was kicked out of high school for drugs in NC. He is doing very well and I do not want him to go back to NC due to the bad influence of his so called friends. I have been informed by my post JAG office that once he turns 18 he can decide where he wants to live and I can not stop him, is this correct? If so will I have to pay his money hungery mother child support until he graduates? Any help would be greatly apprecated.