Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Your responsibility to pay child support does not end with her giving birth. That responsibility ends at her 21st birthday or based upon your stipulation of settlement from a divorce or a court order in family court.

That being said, you should look into what your stip or order says and check what your daughter is doing. Is she working in a full time job, is she still in school, is she living on her own or with the father of the child, is the child's father paying child support?

Based upon the answers of all of these questions, you might, I repeat, might, have a basis for a petition for a reduction or cessation of child support.

If you petition the Court and demonstrate that the child is emancipated, then your child support obligations would terminate.

Generally, "Children are �emancipated� and parents no longer have an obligation to support them if children become economically independent of parents through employment, entry into military service, or marriage, and may also be deemed constructively emancipated if, without cause, they withdraw from parental control and supervision" (Alice C. v. Bernard G.C., 602 N.Y.S.2d 623, N.Y.App.Div.2.Dept.,1993).

Mike.