Child emancipated to decrease child support

[spallanzani]

What is the name of your state? KS

I have a friend at work who has an 18-year-old son. Her divorce agreement says that her ex has to pay child support until the child graduates from high school or turns 18, whichever is later, and this child still has a year and a half left in high school.

She received a notice in the mail last week saying that her older son has been emancipated, and because of this, her ex-husband is no longer obligated to pay child support for this child. The letter is from the district court of Johnson County.

She is confident the child did not go to court to testify, and she never received any notice from the court that a hearing was going on regarding emancipation. She has sole custody of the child--her ex-husband doesn't even have rights to visit if she doesn't allow it, and she says he hasn't even talked to her children in over five years. When she called the number on the letter, they told her it was valid, and that they had sent her a letter requesting school records, but she either didn't get it or threw it away.

My first question is, how could this happen? I was under the impression that for a child to be emancipated, the judge would at least have to talk to the custodial parent and the child, at the very least. I suppose it is remotely possible that the child somehow went behind her back and showed up in court with his father, but even with that, I can't believe they would go ahead with this without the custodial parent's being present.

My second question is, what can she do about this?

Thanks in advance,
Kristen

[Silverplum]

1. The child was emancipated by law. Not a hearing. Just that he's of age, no longer a "child."

2. If your friend has any further questions, she needs to come online herself. She has the pertinent facts needed to give her decent legal info.

Originally Posted by spallanzani

What is the name of your state? KS

I have a friend at work who has an 18-year-old son. Her divorce agreement says that her ex has to pay child support until the child graduates from high school or turns 18, whichever is later, and this child still has a year and a half left in high school.

She received a notice in the mail last week saying that her older son has been emancipated, and because of this, her ex-husband is no longer obligated to pay child support for this child. The letter is from the district court of Johnson County.

She is confident the child did not go to court to testify, and she never received any notice from the court that a hearing was going on regarding emancipation. She has sole custody of the child--her ex-husband doesn't even have rights to visit if she doesn't allow it, and she says he hasn't even talked to her children in over five years. When she called the number on the letter, they told her it was valid, and that they had sent her a letter requesting school records, but she either didn't get it or threw it away.

My first question is, how could this happen? I was under the impression that for a child to be emancipated, the judge would at least have to talk to the custodial parent and the child, at the very least. I suppose it is remotely possible that the child somehow went behind her back and showed up in court with his father, but even with that, I can't believe they would go ahead with this without the custodial parent's being present.

My second question is, what can she do about this?

Thanks in advance,
Kristen

[spallanzani]

[quote=Silverplum;1784601]1. The child was emancipated by law. Not a hearing. Just that he's of age, no longer a "child."QUOTE]
If that's the case, then shouldn't the child support have ended when the child turned 18? Or would the non-custodial parent be able to petition the court that based on the age of the child, child support should stop? The divorce decree definitely says that child support ought to be paid until the child graduates high school, and the ex-husband did have to pay child support in between when the child turned 18 and when this letter arrived.

What the letter actually says is,
"The records of the District Court Trustee reflect that Nicholas P has emancipated according to Kansas law and the child support in this case should be reduced proportionately to the sum of xxx.xx monthly commencing January 1, 2008."

Would you mind explaining that a bit more? I understand being emancipated by law versus being emancipated by hearing, but I don't understand how that would affect the child support agreement.

I will ask her if she would like to post online, but she has a lot to worry about right now, so I am just trying to help her figure out what direction to take on this.

[Silverplum]

[quote=spallanzani;1784626]

Originally Posted by Silverplum

1. The child was emancipated by law. Not a hearing. Just that he's of age, no longer a "child."QUOTE]
If that's the case, then shouldn't the child support have ended when the child turned 18? Or would the non-custodial parent be able to petition the court that based on the age of the child, child support should stop? The divorce decree definitely says that child support ought to be paid until the child graduates high school, and the ex-husband did have to pay child support in between when the child turned 18 and when this letter arrived.

What the letter actually says is,
"The records of the District Court Trustee reflect that Nicholas P has emancipated according to Kansas law and the child support in this case should be reduced proportionately to the sum of xxx.xx monthly commencing January 1, 2008."

Would you mind explaining that a bit more? I understand being emancipated by law versus being emancipated by hearing, but I don't understand how that would affect the child support agreement.

I will ask her if she would like to post online, but she has a lot to worry about right now, so I am just trying to help her figure out what direction to take on this.

I'm personally not interested in explaining it to a friend -- maybe someone else will, or maybe you could look it up yourself.

I'm into helping people in trouble...not their neighbors, not their friends, not their sisters... And you have NO idea, I guarantee you, how much detail we NEED to get the questions PROPERLY answered. THAT'S why I won't spend my time explaining the law to a neighbor/sister/friend who doesn't have the nitty-gritty info we need.

[spallanzani]

This belongs in the child support forum, I think, so I'll repost there.