Q: I had no relationship with the mother (wasn’t boyfriend or anything to her) does she have the right to put child support

A: Generally, the presumption in Missouri is that both parents are financially responsible for their child. The presumption does not go away because the parents were not in a relationship.

There are a variety of factors the court looks at when determining child support including but not limited to the following:  

(1) The financial needs and resources of the child;

(2) The financial resources and needs of the parents;

(3) The standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not been dissolved;

(4) The physical and emotional condition of the child, and the child’s educational needs;

(5) The child’s physical and legal custody arrangements, including the amount of time the child spends with each parent and the reasonable expenses associated with the custody or visitation arrangements; and

(6) The reasonable work-related child care expenses of each parent.

Child support will terminate if the child:

(1) Dies;

(2) Marries;

(3) Enters active duty in the military;

(4) Becomes self-supporting, provided that the custodial parent has relinquished the child from parental control by express or implied consent;

(5) Reaches age eighteen, unless the provisions of 4 or 5; or

(6) Reaches age twenty-one, unless the provisions of the child support order specifically extend the parental support order past the child’s twenty-first birthday for reasons provided by subsection 4.

Finally, if the child is physically or mentally incapacitated from supporting himself and insolvent and unmarried, the court may extend the parental support obligation past the child’s eighteenth birthday. If and when a child reaches age eighteen, and the child is enrolled in and attending a secondary school program of instruction, the parental support obligation shall continue.