Reducing Support When Child Reaches 18

When a child reaches the age of majority (usually eighteen) or graduates high school, that normally is a basis for stopping child support for that child, unless the parent is obliged to help pay for that child’s college education.

Whether payments stop at age eighteen or at graduation from high school depends on the law of the state. Many states say payments stop at the later of those two events (assuming the child will graduate high school in a normal amount of time).

If only one child is the subject of a support order, the parent who is obliged to pay child support can stop making payments when the child reaches eighteen or graduates high school. The obligor does not have to go to court to seek permission to stop payments.

If there is more than one child who is subject of a support order, the right of the obligor to reduce payments when the oldest child reaches the age of majority will depend on the wording of the court’s support order.

If support is set at a certain amount per child (for example, “child support shall be $200 per month for each of the three children”), then the obligor may reduce payments by $200 as each of the three children reaches the age of majority. Under this example, child support would be $600 per month when all three children were under eighteen; $400 per month when the oldest child reached eighteen; $200 per month when the middle child reached eighteen; and no support when all three were over eighteen.

If, on the other hand, child support for three children was set as a lump sum for all children (for example “child support for the three children shall be $600 per month”), then the obligor must keep paying $600 per month until the youngest of the three children turns eighteen, unless the obligor goes to court and obtains a reduction in child support.

When the oldest child turns eighteen that can be a basis for a court to reduce support, but the court will not reduce support automatically. The court will look at a variety of factors, including the current income of the parents and the needs of the remaining children. If the income of the parents has remained the same and the needs of the remaining two minor children are the same, the obligor can expect that the amount of support for the remaining two children will decrease. The amount of reduction will not necessarily be one-third, however. Applying Illinois’ child support guidelines, for example, the obligor could expect that child support payments would be reduced from 32 percent of his or her net income to 28 percent of his or her net income.