Child support reduced - when one child turns 18

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

I’ve been told that when my oldest daughter turns 18, she won’t automatically drop off of my child support (which is taken out of my paycheck). And that I’ll have to take my ex back to court to get the CS dropped (or reduced).

Is this correct? And will I need an attorney to do this? Is there anyway I can get shafted if I don’t have an attorney?

When the child support was established to begin with, my ex’s attorney did the calculations and sent them to the State (which I found out to be calculated incorrectly, in her favor, according to the NC Child Support calculator). So I’m afraid she may try to calculate it wrong again…UNLESS the state will automatically calculate it??

I hate to pay another attorney to go back to court over something that I feel should AUTOMATICALLY happen, since there’s no way to protest that my daughter is 18, but I also don’t want to shafted.

Please answer these specific questions:
(1) Is it true I have to go to court to get CS reduced?
(2) Will the attorney figure the new calculation or will the State do it?
(3) Do I need an attorney?

Thanks!

2

If the child support obligation is in a court order, any modification you do should also be in a court order. If you and your former spouse can agree on an amount, you can draft the order as a consent order and submit it to the judge. If you cannot agree, then you should file a motion to modify child support, and list as your reason to modify that one child is aging out so that the figure can be reduced to only provide child support for one child. The court will calculate your new child support obligation. This should be a fairly straightforward process, unless there is a dispute over income. To get an idea of what your new child support obligation will be, use our child support calculator.