Q: Can the arrears that I owe in child support be forgiven by my child, who is now 20 and self sufficient?
My daughter is 20 and lives with me. I've been paying child support on her since the support order was put in place. The only exception to that was a 4 year period of incarnation, which is why I have arrears. She doesn't receive any of the arrears, but she hates that I'm still having to pay it, and wants to know if she can ask for it to be forgiven, as the child in the case.
A:
Child support is not owed to the child, it is owed to the custodial parent. The child does not have a say in support matters.
At this point it sounds like you should only be paying back child support. If you are still paying both back support and current support see an attorney to terminate the current support.
A:
Child support can come from either a court order or through the Division of Child Support Enforcement. If it's not through one of these channels but by maybe an oral or mutual agreement of the parents, then you'll generally have more flexibility. If your child support comes from the court order or DCSE, then it gets much more complicated. The child's input ultimately is irrelevant, and if the other parent disagrees with your arrangement and you still have arrears grow further, then you could get in more trouble.
I would reach out to an attorney to go over your specific circumstances to see what would be recommended.
As a slight side note, I noticed that you're located in Oklahoma and put the location in Virginia. You'll also want to make sure that you speak with an attorney in the state where the child support order/arrangement originated in the event there are state specific laws that may change the advice.
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