Legal Question in Family Law in Mississippi
Child support and emanciapted
My husband has been paying child support and was just told by his son that he moved out of the country the day after he graduated from High School and then got married 3 months later. His mother has continued to receive and cash the child support checks for the last 16 months. What are his legal rights to get the child support stopped and the money back that has been paid since his son moved out of the country.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Child support and emanciapted
To stop the child support, file a motion in the court that has jurisdiction over the child's support. Also, possibly the mother breached some duty to inform the father about about the emancipation and maybe the court will award the father a judgment against her for the overpayment.
Re: Child support and emanciapted
Certainly your husband�s son has taken the necessary steps to be emancipated, but this is a matter that only the court can decide. If child support is taken out of his earnings with a withholding order, it will continue until further order of the court. Your husband needs to file for a modification of child support. I would suggest he contact a local family law attorney as soon as possible.
As far as the 16 months of child support, I�m afraid you will have to chalk this up as one of the hard lessons in life. The child is not emancipated until the court says he is, so she does have the right to collect to collect it. In my opinion, collecting this money is the wrong thing to do, but as usual, opinions may vary. Your husband would also have a hard time explaining why he did not know his sons marital status or even what country he currently resides.
***************
Only the court has the authority to determine if a child, under the age of 21, is in fact emancipated. � 93-5-23. Custody of children; alimony. (in part)
The duty of support of a child terminates upon the emancipation of the child. The court may determine that emancipation has occurred and no other support obligation exists when the child:
(a) Attains the age of twenty-one (21) years, or
(b) Marries, or
(c) Discontinues full-time enrollment in school and obtains full-time employment prior to attaining the age of twenty-one (21) years, or
(d) Voluntarily moves from the home of the custodial parent or guardian and establishes independent living arrangements and obtains full-time employment prior to attaining the age of twenty-one (21) years.