# Child Support **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support/550085 "2010-08-12T21:23:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support/550085/41 "2010-08-17T14:24:43Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > > [@Wilbo523](#): > > > > But still to CutterJohn’s point, a child cannot sue their married parents for support (medical, secondary education, etc.) after they turn 18, so why should a child of divorced parents be able to? > > Married parents are not required to spend a dime more than is required to keep the child minimally clothed, fed, sheltered, doctored, and in school. When parents split, should the courts only require payments that cover the bare minimum for a child’s survival, or should they recognize that an un-split family is likely to provide the occasion toy or ice cream cone, health care past 18, or a modest post-secondary education if the income is available? The parent child relationship is not legally affected in a divorce. Sure, some parents shirk their responsibilities to their children when a divorce happens. And child support requirements attempt to remedy those situations. But I believe that the state should only be involved to insure that the basic needs of the child are met, with some level of scaling depending upon the income of the parents. But I do not believe that parents have any legal obligation to support their adult children. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support/550085/42 "2010-08-17T17:36:11Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Umm, I don’t know why you’re rolling your eyes. That is indeed my understanding, and neither of my parents had an issue with the concept (though my dad did have an issue with the amount, though he could have easily afforded it and his parents had done the same for him under much reduced circumstances). I wasn’t disputing that it exists, simply expressing how I felt that it exists at all. Apologies for not making myself clear. 🙂 A parents obligation is to age 18. 17 if the kid emancipates themselves. Beyond that, its at the parents discretion. Or should be. That it can be made otherwise is… Just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Notchimine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bcef8e/32.png) [@Notchimine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Notchimine)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support/550085/43 "2010-08-17T20:20:44Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > > [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > > > Umm, I don’t know why you’re rolling your eyes. That is indeed my understanding, and neither of my parents had an issue with the concept (though my dad did have an issue with the amount, though he could have easily afforded it and his parents had done the same for him under much reduced circumstances). > > I wasn’t disputing that it exists, simply expressing how I felt that it exists at all. Apologies for not making myself clear. 🙂 > > A parents obligation is to age 18. 17 if the kid emancipates themselves. Beyond that, its at the parents discretion. Or should be. That it can be made otherwise is… Just wrong. I agree with you but it is showing up in divorce decrees more and more from my understanding. And not because it is agreed upon by both parties. Personally when I divorced in 92, the stipulation was that child support ended at 18 or when the child graduated high school whichever came last. Friends of mine have stipulations that the kids have their college paid and are insured up to the age of 25 in some cases. I am a firm believer that people should work for their education and would be very bitter if that had been the case for me. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support/550085/44 "2010-08-17T21:52:31Z")
> [@Notchimine](#): > > > [@CutterJohn](#): > > > > I wasn’t disputing that it exists, simply expressing how I felt that it exists at all. Apologies for not making myself clear. 🙂 > > > > A parents obligation is to age 18. 17 if the kid emancipates themselves. Beyond that, its at the parents discretion. Or should be. That it can be made otherwise is… Just wrong. > > I agree with you but it is showing up in divorce decrees more and more from my understanding. And not because it is agreed upon by both parties. Personally when I divorced in 92, the stipulation was that child support ended at 18 or when the child graduated high school whichever came last. Friends of mine have stipulations that the kids have their college paid and are insured up to the age of 25 in some cases. I am a firm believer that people should work for their education and would be very bitter if that had been the case for me. It’s not all-or-nothing. My parents contributed some, and I contributed much more, via a full-tuition scholarship, savings from PT jobs in high school, PT jobs during the school year and full-time in summers, and loans. I don’t think anyone’s arguing that students should contribute nothing toward their own education; the problem is that it’s basically impossible under the current system to be a full-time student without some outside help unless you’re independently wealthy. The days when one could save enough from a summer job to pay for the whole school year are long over, because college expenses have been increasing much faster than salaries for decades, and particularly much faster than salaries for the kind of job one can get without a college degree. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support/550085/45 "2010-08-17T22:03:18Z")
> [@Notchimine](#): > > Friends of mine have stipulations that the kids have their college paid and are insured up to the age of 25 in some cases. In those situations, are your friends that are receiving child support during the time they are under 18, saving a portion of that support each month to also pay their share of the kid’s college tuition, after they turn 18? Or are they expecting the parent paying child support to increase the amount of support after the kid turns 18 to pay the college tuition bills? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support/550085/46 "2010-08-17T22:24:16Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > …I don’t think anyone’s arguing that students should contribute nothing toward their own education; the problem is that it’s basically impossible under the current system to be a full-time student without some outside help unless you’re independently wealthy… Not to mentioned that if you’re single, under 25, or not a veteran you parents’ income is a factor in financial aid eligiblity _regardless_ of whether or not they contribute. Dependancy overides are very hard to get. Hell, without an overide FAFSA won’t even process the aid forms if they’re missing the parents’ financial info (which parents are under no obligation to provide). I knew a girl in college who’s parents basically disowned after she was kicked out of USAF boot camp (due to DADT). Not only did they not give her a dime, they wouldn’t give her the information she needed to fill out the FAFSA forms, and when she tried to get an overide and Financial Aid Office contacted they said they be glad to help and offeres support “if only she would move back home and attend “counselling” from their church”. If they’d both died she’d suddenly become eligable for all kinds of aid. She ended up working full-time with the Physical Plant to take advantage of the free tuition offered to employees (which limited her to 6 credits a semester with the lowest registration priority possible). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-support/550085.md?page=2)