Mississippi Supreme Court says child support payment not automatically reduced when one child is emancipated
For parents paying child support for two or more children, you may want to review your divorce decree to see if the decree addresses what happens to the child support payment when the oldest child is emancipated. If your decree does not specify how the child support will be reduced, then you might be headed back to court to seek a reduction.
Here is an example: A Madison, Mississippi couple divorce and have two children--18 and 14 years old. Husband agrees to pay $2,000 a month in child support, but nothing is said in the decree as to the amount of child support when the oldest child is emancipated. [If you have a question regarding when a child is emancipated in Mississippi, click here for my previous post on this subject]. The question is when the oldest child is emancipated, does the husband continue to pay $2,000.00 a month in child support even though there is only one child due support or is the amount of child support reduced? Well, if it is not spelled out in the divorce decree, then you will have to go back to Court to seek a modification or get the Court to approve an agreement between you and your ex-spouse.
This is similar to a case addressed last week by the Mississippi Supreme Court. It held that "for global child-support payments providing for two or more children, the emancipation of one child does not automatically reduce the lump-sum payment." The reasoning was:
Global child-support orders may contemplate that a base amount would be required, regardless of the number of children with an undetermined amount for each child included in the periodic payment;A child-support payment is not based solely on the needs of the minor children, but takes into account the ability of a parent to pay child support; consequently, a child-support order may not accurately reflect the amount actually required for the support of children, but may reflect only the amount a parent can afford to pay; and
Considering an undivided child-support obligation as equally divisible among the children overlooks the possibility that the requirements of the individual children may vary widely, depending upon the circumstances of each child.
If this is an issue you will face in the near future or are facing now, call us at the Kisselburgh Law Firm to set up a consultation to further discuss your rights.
