Am I legally obligated to continue support

[shawnabrat]

My daughter is 17. My support order was established in Georgia. Ex moved to Nevada. Didn't enroll my daughter in school. Then my daughter moved to Arizona with her 20 year old boyfriend, with the ex''s permission. I wasn't notified of quitting school or move to Arizona until 5 months later when my dtr told me. When I was notified I stopped support payments to mother. My 17 y/o dtr then got pregnant and now she and the bf live back in NV with mom and state she never moved. What do I do? Is she considered emancipated? The ex is manipulative and lazy and just wants $$ so she doesn't have to work full time. Help please. I have always paid CS and paid for both my children until my oldest graduated HS. My divorce decree in GA is 12 years old and doesn't even state an amount I'm supposed to pay for the youngest child when the oldest graduates. I'm tired of being taken advantage of. Someone, please help me. I have a son that's 10 and my current wife and I have always done without so the children are taken care of. 

[MixedBag]

You gotta find the GA State laws on line and go from there because different states are gonna do this differently.

Then file a motion with the GA County Courthouse where jurisdiction is and ask for emancipation IF the GA State law seems to support your logic.

once the GA County courthouse JUDGE signs an order, That's when your obligation stops. 

If you stop on your own.....you'll probably get into trouble "in the long run" -- a court has to give you permission via a signed order to stop paying CS.

Are you paying through a state agency now?  If so, they might actually have answers for you and get the ball rolling.  A pregnancy changes a lot -- moving out and back and the fact that she went back is probably NOT a reason to emancipate the child just yet.  But the upcoming baby?

but i'm no attorney....and states have different answers ....(yea, wish it was one answer but it's not).

[shawnabrat]

thanks for your response. Does anyone know if Georgia has jurisdiction since the ex and children now live in NV

[ocean]

You can file in GA since you still live there and the mother never tried to move case to NV. File by you but you may be stuck in back pay unless you can prove daughter moved. If daughter is back with mom and in school usually you have to start paying again until she turns 18. Did mom file with the courts for payment ?

[tigger]

Just to be clear, were you EVER ordered to pay Child Support?  You said the papers never specified an amount and it doesn't sound like an agency went after you when you stopped paying on your own.

[MixedBag]

GA has jurisdiction unless you moved out of state.

THEN it follows the child after 6 months of residency and that would be NV.

GA will continue to define age of emancipation and stuff like that regardless of where Mother moved.  So there's actually two parts you gotta figure out.

For example, if you divorce in State A that defines emancipation as simple as "age 18" -- the custodial parent can't move to a state where emancipation is as simple as "age 21" etc...  and continue to collect.  I was divorced in England, and then moved to Alabama.  England said 18. Alabama says 19.  SO....one child's support ended in August when she turned 18, the other in March when she turned 18 (before graduation for her).....NOT 19 which is what Alabama said.

[MixedBag]

Tigger, I bet his order was like mine.....$XXX amount for two children.  When oldest emancipated, it was still the same amount for the child left over UNLESS there was a new order.  New order means new calculations....and maybe it goes up or maybe it goes down.  I bet when oldest emancipated -- there was no new order for new level of CS since there was only ONE child.  If it was 12 years old, he was probably better off because of 12 years of increased wages and stuff.

That's what happened to me too as the CP.  When oldest emancipated, Dad thought he automatically got to cut CS in half....only one child left.  Our order at the time was about 10 years old too....and by then I knew/learned the "rules" whereas he didn't.....and it took some convincing from the Alabama DHR folks to say "Hey, leave your order alone, because you're gonna pay MORE in the end for one child because you (and Mom) make much more than you did 10 years ago.  Mom never asked for an update and the result is that you've been "underpaying" based on income calculations and stuff for years."  Mine finally saw the light and left things alone, but was chomping at the bit to stop paying CS.  I think he stopped a month early.....but ya know.  WTF at that point.....not worth arguing over and he simply showed his true colors.  In his eyes he was "paying me" vs. acknowledging that our daughters were well taken care of and didn't live poorly because I squandered away money.