Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Ending of Child Support

If the child is 18 but has not yet graduated then the support obligation has not ended yet. It should continue to be paid.

The issue around whether the child is not attending or working at school is a different problem.

Family law attorneys have a blistering debate on our listserve about how to handle this issue, because it does come up.

The consensus is that child support is not supposed to enable a grown person to not go to work or learn to be self-sufficent. The person who gets punished unfortunately is the custodial parent.

If there is a dispute resolution clause in your parenting plan, it would be useful to invoke it as a way to discuss what to do with the other parent. If you cannot reach a compromise, then ask the same court that entered the child support order originally to determine judicially when the support order terminates.

This could be done administratively through DCS as well, if your order goes through DCS. You would ask them for a hearing to determine when support ends.

Obviously the duty is going to be over before they are 30, but is it 19? Or, is the child developmentally delayed such that they are now a disabled adult?

Attendance and failure to work can also be addressed through a Becca petition, which the SCHOOL is supposed to file when attendance is dismal. You could write the school board and ask why they have failed to file this, as it is mandatory.

Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell