A parent's duty to pay child support in California normally terminates when the child reaches age 18. However, as to any unmarried 18-year-old child who is a full-time high school student and not self-supporting, the parent's obligation to pay support continues until the time the child completes the 12th grade or reaches 19 years of age, whichever occurs first. Fam C §3901(a). According to one Long Beach Lawyer , one recent appellate court decision held that a court should not have terminated support for child after she turned 18 in February, but rather should have terminated child support at end of her senior year because she continued to live with custodial parent and to attend high school until graduation in June. Thus, child support ends, at the latest, when the child reaches age 19, unless: ¿ A parent agrees to provide mandatory financial support beyond this time , or ¿ The child (of whatever age) is incapacitated from earning a living and is without sufficient means (Fam C §3910(a); Marriage of Serna (2000) 85 CA4th 482, 483-484, 102 CR2d 188; Marriage of Drake (1997) 53 CA4th 1139, 1154, 62 CR2d 466 (question of "sufficient means" should be resolved in terms of likelihood that child will become a public charge). The court may use the Statewide Uniform Guideline to compute support for an adult child who is incapacitated and without sufficient means. At least from the perspective of a Local Long Beach Attorney. It may adapt or depart from the guideline formula as warranted by the circumstances, e.g., if a disabled adult child has independent income or assets, the court may reduce the presumed amount of support A family law court may modify or terminate a child support order as the court determines to be necessary. Fam C §3651(a); Marriage of Brinkman (2003) 111 CA4th 1281, 1288, 4 CR2d 722. As a general rule, a material change of circumstances must be shown before a child support order may be modified either upward or downward Continue reading "An Attorney Explains The Law Of Child Support"
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