When Do I Stop Paying Child Support in Massachusetts?

Child support is paid until all of the children are emancipated. Emancipation is a term that means that it depends on the child’s age and whether or not they go to college. So if a child is 18, graduated from high school, has not gone on to post-secondary education and they are living outside of the house, they’re considered emancipated. If however you have a child who’s graduated from high school has never lived on their own is still living with the primary parent which obviously a very common incident, then child support can be payable until that child is 21 years of age. In other words, for as long as that child is principally dependent upon the custodial parent. Child support does continue beyond those ages if a child is enrolled in post-secondary education. If a child goes to college, child support would end when the child graduates from college. Child support, in that instance, might not be strictly paid on the child support guidelines because it depends on how the college is being funded, whether or not one parent is handling the bulk of the responsibility or whether it’s shared but generally, child support at summary will be continued until the child graduates from college.

This informational blog post was provided by Cynthia Hanley, an experienced Massachusetts Divorce Attorney.