Retroactivate Emancipation

[pattie7399]

My question involves emancipation laws for the State of: New Jersey


Is it possible to emancipate someone retroactively? If so, what are the advantages of doing so? I live in NJ where there are no emancipation laws (unless the offspring is Military Active Duty).


My sons are 23 and 26. I support the 26 yr old and the 23 year old got his own apartment in Dec 2008 but their father is just now wanting to emancipate them retroactively. He wrote his own consent. I do receive support in the amount of $25 for the 26 yr old and $75 for the 23 year old.

The 23 year old is a Marine Reservist and was deployed for Iraq in May 2009. He remains active duty at this time.

[Dogmatique]

Your children are already emancipated by virtue of their age - the very second they reached New Jersey's age of majority, they were considered legally emancipated.

(how are you getting support for the 26 year old, btw?)

[aaron]

Is it that the custody order said that child support was supposed to end when the children became legally emancipated, but for some reason nobody ever told the court that had happened, such that he's trying to argue that he's overpaid support for several years and should be able to recoup the overpayment?

[pattie7399]

He pays me through the arranged support. The last time it was adjusted was when the 23 yr old went to boot camp in 2004 when he was 18. When he returned from boot camp he started full time college and I unemancipated him. His support was $100 and reduced to $75 and the 26 yr old, who was 21 at the time and totally dependent on me, was made $25.

I didnt know that you could unemancipate someone. I represented myself and he had a lawyer. I argued that the 23 yr old was going to boot camp but we knew he would return and be a full time student. His lawyer stated that he could be emancipated at this time and be unemancipated when he resumes school. Didnt know that, thanks Mr. lawyer!!!

My 26 yr old son was diagnosed at 19 with Crohns and depended on me for support though one could argue he could have gotten a part time job. He did at age 25 and quit it to care for me when I was nearly killed on the turnpike in September 2008. I remain on SSDI and am in the process of being determined that I will never work again. Just FYI if that affects the legal answer in any way.

the custody/support was written by me and emancipation was not clarified in the order. But if there are no laws in NJ, could he retroactively get money back?

He wants to retroactively emancipate them to January 2009. He is not asking for support to be paid retroactively but he does want his arrears cleared. It is presently about $2000. He has been behind $10 000 in the past and they took his IRS refund, his NJ state refund and his NJ homeowners rebate, none of which I applied for, they just did. He was paying a $10 a week arrears when they went for the large amounts

[Dogmatique]

The kids were legally emancipated when they reached the age of majority; if your ex didn't file to modify the child support order at the time, that ain't your fault

It's very unlikely he can recoup anything - this was up to him to fix at the time.

[pattie7399]

I did use the money for the "kids" and provided a home and food etc for them. If he didnt seek it years ago, as I am understanding you are saying he could have, do I have to pay him back for his lack of action? It was not sneeky on my part. He paid and I used it to pay the bills. keep ijn mind, he used a lawyer for the divorce and the support/custody paper was included in the divorce and he has used a lawyer when we have had issues (maybe 3 times??) I have always represented myself as i found it hard to find the money for a lawyer when I have 6 kids and 10 grandchildren.

[cbg]

Did you say this was in NJ? The law is different there than any other state, as my BIL found out to his great misfortune.

The CP has to apply to have support stopped. It is unlikely that it will be retroactive. However, unless the order specifically stated that it would continue until 23 and 26, it is your very good luck that he did not know to apply earlier. There is no question that, unless your sons are in some way unable to care for themselves (by which I mean physically or mentally disabled), the support would have been stopped by the court at the ABSOLUTE LATEST when they graduated college (if they went) and NO LATER than 21 if they did not. His ignorance of the requirements means that you got several years more support than he actually needed to pay.

[LawResearcherMissy]

do I have to pay him back for his lack of action?

As Doggie has already said, it's unlikely he would be successful if he tried to recoup anything. It's more likely that the judge will tell him that he should have paid more attention.

[pattie7399]

thanks for any and all direction.

Emancipation is not specified as I wrote it and didnt know to include it or avoid it. His lawyer never sought a revision.

He also is seeking a reduction of our daughtwer's support. She is a college student and dependent on us.

thanks. This is helping to give me direction on how to handle this. I am a bit panicked as my income is 1/4 what it was now that I am on SSDI as I used to work OT routinely.