What is the Emancipation Process to End Child Support in New York State

My question involves child support in the State of: New York

Hi Everyone,

Background: Divorced in 2004 from 1st marriage with 2 children (now aged 21 and 17). Divorce was as amicable as possible with joint legal custody and sole physical custody to my ex-wife. We defined in our child support agreement that support would be paid until 22 as long as the children are enrolled full-time in college. We have never amended or changed the child support amount agreed to and have never traded W2's or taxes since. We are on good terms. I remarried in 2007 and have 2 additional children with my new wife (4 and 1). Again, have never modified support agreement.

My question essentially has to do with the process I will need to go through in anticipation of my oldest child's 22nd birthday and emancipation. From everything I've read elsewhere 'emancipation is not automatic' and that I must file papers with the courts. I am in the process of locating a lawyer to assist but I would like to have an idea of what the process is, when it should be started, and what my expectations should be going in. I also curious about the courts interest in our child support history since my ex and I never made changes to our original agreement, never exchanged income info and she never requested a COLA over the past 9 years.

Any help or insight is appreciated.

Regards

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Quoting morpheus27

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My question involves child support in the State of: New York

Hi Everyone,

Background: Divorced in 2004 from 1st marriage with 2 children (now aged 21 and 17). Divorce was as amicable as possible with joint legal custody and sole physical custody to my ex-wife. We defined in our child support agreement that support would be paid until 22 as long as the children are enrolled full-time in college. We have never amended or changed the child support amount agreed to and have never traded W2's or taxes since. We are on good terms. I remarried in 2007 and have 2 additional children with my new wife (4 and 1). Again, have never modified support agreement.

My question essentially has to do with the process I will need to go through in anticipation of my oldest child's 22nd birthday and emancipation. From everything I've read elsewhere 'emancipation is not automatic' and that I must file papers with the courts. I am in the process of locating a lawyer to assist but I would like to have an idea of what the process is, when it should be started, and what my expectations should be going in. I also curious about the courts interest in our child support history since my ex and I never made changes to our original agreement, never exchanged income info and she never requested a COLA over the past 9 years.

Any help or insight is appreciated.

Regards

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Just a word of warning...

If child support was never modified in the last 9 years, and your income has increased during that time period be very careful before you start this process.

Child support for two children is NOT double the child support for one. If child support for one child under state guidelines is 17% of your gross income, then child support for two children might be 24 or25%...as an example. NY does not appear to give any credits for subsequent children.

When you file to emancipate your oldest, child support will be recalculated based on current income levels. Which means, you could actually end up with an INCREASE in child support rather than a decrease. Make sure that you know exactly where you stand before you begin the process.

You can get some information here:

https://www.childsupport.ny.gov/chil...standards.html

If you have a child support order stating you pay child support until 22, then you should not need to do anything more than cease payments at that time.

A well written order should state the amount of support payments at the time the order is signed, how and when it should be paid, when payments should cease for each child, and what the new payments will be as each child is emancipated. If you're that fortunate its a no-brainer. If not, you should consult with an attorney.

I agree you should avoid unnecessarily triggering a review, which could increase your payments for the remaining child