When Can You Get Support Terminated for an Irresponsible 19-Year-Old Child

My question involves child support in the State of: Washington

I'll do my best to keep this from being a rant...

I am active duty military and I am assigned to duty in Alabama. My children live with my ex-wife in Washington State.

My son should have graduated high school this year. He will be 19 this summer (held back a year as a child). He has no disabilities, learning or otherwise.

He has failed to maintain a passing grade in his classes all year long and now must return for another semester to attain his high school diploma.

He managed to get charges for a minor in possession of alcohol and marijuana and he was convicted of a DUI this past year.

I personally believe his mother is failing as a parent. She is his friend first and a parent last.

I was discussing the end of child support for him with his mother when she informed me today that the order for child support states (quoting from the order) "Support shall be paid: until the child(ren) reach(es) the age of 18 or as long as the child(ren) remain(s) enrolled in high school, whichever occurs last..."

Can you see where this is going? I thought my head was going to explode. What kills me is that he can continue to screw up and remain enrolled in the alternative school (which he has been attending since the beginning of the second semester) and cost me $800 per month.

What are my options and can I get child support stopped for him? Can the court order him to come live with me and she pay me support (I'd put my foot in places that would get his attention if you know what I mean).

I have another son who is two years behind and in the exact same situation, so I need to know how to handle this.

Thanks for any advice.

Tom

Here's the tricky thing.

He's a legal adult - which means the court can no longer determine where he lives. The court can, however, order that you keep paying child support per the original order.

Do you actually have a copy of the order with you? (I'm not suggesting that Mom would deliberately lie ... but ... well, yeah. You see where I'm going there)

Yes, I have a certified copy of the order in my possession.

Yes, he's an adult and he turns 19 in a little more than a month. I can't believe I have to pay child support for a 19 year old man who is perfectly capable of pulling his own head out of his backside and face life like every other normal, upstanding person...

Thanks for the reply.

File to modify anyway. It can't hurt.

I am curious if there are any Washington family law attorneys who participate on this site? I am hoping that there's a clause like most states that allow the conclusion of child support at age 19 irregardless of high school graduation. I am not required to pay post-secondary education costs.

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Quoting tcarroll2

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I am curious if there are any Washington family law attorneys who participate on this site? I am hoping that there's a clause like most states that allow the conclusion of child support at age 19 irregardless of high school graduation. I am not required to pay post-secondary education costs.

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I'm not an attorney, but I did a Google search, and found this, on About.com:

"A court in Washington state uses several criteria to determine an appropriate child support amount. In the state of Washington, parents are obligated to support a minor child until the child turns age 18, or age 19 if the child has yet to graduate from high school. A court in Washington may also order post-secondary child support".

Sounds to me like mom is full of it, in claiming that you'll have to pay child support until your son graduates from high school, regardless of how old he is. If that was the case, you'd have a lot of 30 something year old high school dropouts, living at home with mom, with mom still getting child support, which of course, would be absurd!

OP, I am not an attorney. But I do reside in the great state of Washington ;)

Read this:

http://www.dshs.wa.gov/dcs/resources/lawindex.asp

Okay, I think I stumbled onto what some may call a nugget of good info.

WAC 388-14A-1020 reads (under definition of dependent child) in reference to enforcement of child support: "Dependent child" means a person:

(1) Seventeen years of age or younger who is not self-supporting, married, or a member of the United States armed forces;

(2) Eighteen years of age or older for whom a court order requires support payments past age eighteen;

(3) Eighteen years of age or older, but under nineteen years of age, for whom an administrative support order exists if the child is participating full-time in a secondary school program or the same level of vocational or technical training.

WAC 388-14A-3810 also would apply, in my opinion.

So, I am leaning on this as my green-light to stop my child support at the end of next month. If there is some other WAC or RCW to help me support my position, I would greatly appreciate your direction and hopefully another NCP can benefit from my frustration...

File a motion to modify (terminate) the support based upon the child legally "aging out". Don't stop paying until the court gives you the green light.

Is this really necessary? Why do I need to keep paying the courts for a stupid motion to stop paying? I live out of state and am active military who goes to sea. I'm tired of paying people for unnecessary reasons and this is just going to cost me even more to hire an attorney to represent me. I think I'll take my chances and roll the dice by pointing out these citations to her and telling her to sue me.

If child support is not scheduled to end automatically per the express language of the order and policies of the court and child support agency, then it must be ended by a motion bringing to the court's attention the facts that trigger termination of support under the order, or asking the court to amend the order based upon new allegations of fact and supporting law. How else do you propose that the court would learn that a contingency has been triggered?

If you choose not to bring a petition to modify or end support, you can find yourself looking at support arrears and trying to prove after-the-fact that they accrued after the support order should have ended, or potentially having the court say, "I'm not interested in whether I could have ended support sooner had you brought an earlier motion - I'm enforcing the order through the date you actually brought your motion."

Quote:

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Quoting tcarroll2

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My question involves child support in the State of: Washington

I'll do my best to keep this from being a rant...

I am active duty military and I am assigned to duty in Alabama. My children live with my ex-wife in Washington State.

My son should have graduated high school this year. He will be 19 this summer (held back a year as a child). He has no disabilities, learning or otherwise.

He has failed to maintain a passing grade in his classes all year long and now must return for another semester to attain his high school diploma.

He managed to get charges for a minor in possession of alcohol and marijuana and he was convicted of a DUI this past year.

I personally believe his mother is failing as a parent. She is his friend first and a parent last.

I was discussing the end of child support for him with his mother when she informed me today that the order for child support states (quoting from the order) "Support shall be paid: until the child(ren) reach(es) the age of 18 or as long as the child(ren) remain(s) enrolled in high school, whichever occurs last..."

Can you see where this is going? I thought my head was going to explode. What kills me is that he can continue to screw up and remain enrolled in the alternative school (which he has been attending since the beginning of the second semester) and cost me $800 per month.

What are my options and can I get child support stopped for him? Can the court order him to come live with me and she pay me support (I'd put my foot in places that would get his attention if you know what I mean).

I have another son who is two years behind and in the exact same situation, so I need to know how to handle this.

Thanks for any advice.

Tom

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Dad, I am going to add some information here that has not been addressed yet, which is very important. You stated "children". Obviously there is at least one more child that you are paying support for besides your son.

Are you aware that child support for one child is NOT 1/2 of child support for two children? Are you aware that when one child ages out child support is then recalculated for the remaining child(ren)?

If your income has increased since the last time your child support was modified, I would strongly recommend that you STOP and do some research before making any hasty decisions. Google an online child support calculator for WA and run the numbers. The last thing that you want to do is put yourself in a bad position with child support...and you are taking a risk if you don't do your homework first.