Child Support

Child support is the amount of money that a court orders a parent to pay every month to help pay for the support of the child (or children) and the child’s living expenses.

Each parent is equally responsible for providing for the financial needs of his or her child. But the court cannot enforce this obligation until it makes an order for support. When parents separate, a parent must ask the court to make an order establishing parentage (paternity) and also ask the court to make an order for child support.

Child support payments are usually made until children turn 18 (or 19 if they are still in high school full time, living at home, and cannot support themselves).

Either parent can ask the judge to make a child support order as part of one of these types of cases:

• Divorce, legal separation, or annulment (for parents who are married or in a registered domestic partnership);

• A Petition to Establish Parental Relationship (for unmarried parents);

• A domestic violence restraining order (for married or unmarried parents);

  OR

A Petition for Custody and Support of Minor Children (for parents who have signed a voluntary Declaration of Paternity OR are married, or registered domestic partners, and do not want to get legally separated or divorced)

 

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