Child Support Termination

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

I am currently paying court ordered child support and my daughter has graduated high school and will be turning 18 next month. After reading NCGS 50-13.4, I was curious about the definition of: If the child is still in [color=#FF0000]primary or secondary school[/color] when the child reaches age 18… My daughter, since graduation, has now enrolled in college and will start in the fall. Am I on the hook for support thru college? There is no verbage in our current order stating how long it will last.

I already have a motion drafted to file with the clerk fo court for the termination of child support and wanted to make sure this could be appropriate. The ex-spouse stated she was going to check with her attorney after saying she did some “research” and that child support could last until the age of 22 if a full-time student. If it does in-fact end and age the age of 18 and high school graduation, if she concents to my motion, will it still need to be calendared for a hearing or will the judge just sign the order for termination?

Thanks in advance for all responses…

2

NOT AN ATTORNEY

It is rather confusing, and the verbiage used by CSE in several counties could be interpretted to say that someone owes child support through college. They really need to standardize and clarify the language. (Primary/secondary school being K-12.)

Having said that, usually how it works (provided there is no agreement to say otherwise) is that the payor owes child support until the child graduates high school or until the child is 18, whichever is later. In order to terminate child support, one must file with CSE and continue paying until the termination is granted and signed. Usually what happens in that instance is that CSE reviews the documentation and an order of termination of support is issued.

If child support through college is mandated by agreement or court order, then yes, it could easily last until the child has graduated college, but if that’s not part of your written agreement, then you can probably assume that it’s supposed to cease at high school graduation or age 18, whichever is later.