Answer:

Oftentimes, clients have reached out to me to ask how long their child support obligation is going to last. It’s a very important question, especially when you’re trying to plan your financial future. You need to know how often and how long this obligation is going to be there for you. In Georgia, child support is set up by statute, so there’s not a lot a court can do to tweak shortening the time or lengthening the time; it’s set by Georgia law. In Georgia, child support lasts until a child turns 18, marries, graduates high school – whatever comes first. If they’re emancipated and they’re legally an adult at that time, you’re no longer obligated to support that child.

It’s a little bit different if they’re still in a secondary school, which is high school. If your child is still enrolled in high school and they’re 18 years old, you would still be obligated to support them financially until they graduate high school. The court does cap that, just so that your child is not in high school for too long and still receiving child support. If they reach the age of 20, then your child support obligation would be suspended, even if they were still in high school, which gives you some protection.

If you have any questions about the age of your children or any child support obligations that you may already have, or may need modified or suspended, please give our office a call. We’ll look at any past child support obligations, the ones you have now, and look going forward to see when those obligations may be suspended.