Several circumstances may bring child support payments to an end. The most common reasons include:
However, child support payments may never end for children with special needs. There are twists and turns in Florida child support law.
In the past decade, Florida enacted a statute that requires all child support orders to contain an end date for child support, specifying that child support ends on the child’s 18th birthday. When there are multiple children included in a child support order, child support is calculated for different dates in the future, as each child reaches the age of 18.
An Income Withholding Order, an IWO (formerly called an Income Deduction Order) normally accompanies child support orders. The IWO is also required to contain end dates for child support. If there are several children, the IWO should contain changed amounts of child support as each child ages out.
STAT §61.13 (2020), provides that child support may be altered by the “agreement of the parties.” But note that child support is a right that belongs to the unemancipated child(ren). The parties may agree to extend child support beyond what is required by the law, but may not agree to reduce support that is legally due.
How Long Can a Parent Collect Child Support Arrears?
In Florida, you have the right to collect child support arrears until all payments are made. Even after your child is all grown up, you have the right to pursue child support arrears from the other parent. However, it is crucial that you act fast. If you delay taking action, you may give the other parent a possible defense to any claim to arrears you make.
In Florida, you can even recover child support arrears after your child’s other parent dies. In the event your child’s other parent dies before making all child support payments, you can make a claim against their estate.
The state of Florida enacted a statute that required every child support order to contain an end date for the child support—specifically that the child support will end on the child’s 18th birthday. If there are multiple children included in the child support order, there will be multiple end dates, as each child reaches the age of 18. Normally, an Income Withholding Order will accompany the child support orders, and this Income Withholding Order is also required to have end dates.
Florida child support orders which were signed prior to October 2010, may not have end dates listed. Further, many judges continue to sign orders without these end dates, and, despite the Florida child support statute requirements, these orders are still valid. The current requirement to incorporate an end date for child support was meant to eliminate the necessity of returning to court to obtain an order which terminates child support.
If you currently make your child support payments directly to the other parent rather than to the state of Florida, it will be easier to end the support when a child turns 18. That is, if your child support order requires direct payment and your child reaches the legal termination age for child support, you will simply stop writing the monthly check. This is assuming there are no exceptions in place which would extend your child support obligation past the child’s 18th birthday.
If your particular situation does not allow you to simply stop paying child support when your child reaches the age of 18, you must file a Supplemental Petition to Modify or Terminate Child Support in the same court your original child support order was entered, using your original case number. Depending on your jurisdiction, this process can be fairly complex—as complex as the process for your original divorce/child support case, requiring just as many steps. Once your Petition is filed, it must be served on the other parent, and a hearing will be scheduled.
Chapter 61 of the Florida Statutes provide that:
61.13 Support of children; parenting and time-sharing; powers of court.—
(1)(a) In a proceeding under this chapter, the court may at any time order either or both parents who owe a duty of support to a child to pay support to the other parent or to a third party who has custody in accordance with the child support guidelines schedule in s. 61.30.1. All child support orders and income deduction orders entered on or after October 1, 2010, must provide:
a. For child support to terminate on a child’s 18th birthday unless the court finds or previously found that the minor child, or the child who is dependent in fact and between the ages of 18 and 19, is still in high school and is performing in good faith with a reasonable expectation of graduation before he or she reaches the age of 19, or the continued support is otherwise agreed to by the parties;
b. A schedule, based on the record existing at the time of the order, stating the amount of the monthly child support obligation for all the minor children at the time of the order and the amount of child support that will be owed for any remaining children after one or more of the children are no longer entitled to receive child support; and
c. The month, day, and year that the reduction or termination of child support becomes effective.
STAT §743.07(2) states that a child shall not be deemed emancipated if they are dependent because of a “mental or physical incapacity which began prior to such person reaching majority.”
Such individuals, which may include children with special needs, may never be deemed independent, and thus child support will continue for the duration of their lives or until they are no longer considered “legally dependent.”
This statute does not apply, however, when someone becomes disabled after they have already reached the age of majority. For example, if a “child” was twenty years old and attending college at the time they became legally incapacitated, neither parent would have a legal obligation of support, as their child had already reached the “age of majority” before they became incapacitated.
Regarding incapacity, such as for certain children with special needs, emancipation will need to be determined on a case-by-case basis consistent with the law.