Key Points
- Generally, child support continues until the Court orders its termination.
- There is no Federal Regulation that defines when child support should terminate. Therefore, it is up to each state to define and uniformly apply it to all cases.
- Termination of child support varies state by state and it may vary due to three factors: Age of majority, college support, and children with disability.
- Some states allow child support to continue past 18 years of age (age of majority) if child is still attending secondary school while other states terminate it at a specific age based on the age of majority in each state (link)
- Some states allow for college support (link)
- Some states allow for child support to continue past age of majority if the child is disabled (link)See
- In Georgia, O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15(e) defines the duration of child support as the earlier of completion of the secondary school education or the child’s 20th birthday.
- For children not affected by a child support order, Georgia statute only requires that parents are responsible for their children up to their 18th birthday.
Analysis
- States have adopted two sets of rules regarding the responsibilities of parents toward their children: one for parents not subject to jurisdiction of Family Court and another set of rules for parents who are.
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While Courts have generally held this two-tiered system to be constitutional based on the idea that states have a vested interest in promoting the general welfare of children, it really is not.