File to Modify Your Child Support
Video Transcribed: Child support in Oklahoma does not automatically change when a child ages out. I’m Tulsa child support attorney James Wirth. We’re doing a series here related to Oklahoma child support and Oklahoma child support guidelines.
And this is an important question that comes up a lot: if I have a child age out, meaning turns 18 and graduates from high school, then does that automatically lower child support if you have other kids on the order?
And the big secret is that everybody needs to know that if one child ages out, but you have other children that have not aged out, that does not automatically change your child support. They’ll keep collecting it as normal, and it will continue going on like that until you do something.
Now, what do you have to do? You have to file to modify, and you can’t modify child support retroactively. So you can only modify it back to the date you file your motion with the court, whether it’s the district court or an Oklahoma DHS administrative court. You have to file that motion alleging that the child aged out, which is a basis to modify.
And then at that point, once you get a new order in a place where the child support’s determined based on, say, two kids, instead of three kids, or one child, instead of two children, depending on what the circumstances are, it can be retroactive only to the date that you file your motion.
So every day you wait to file a modification after your child is staged out is a potential additional day where you’re paying more child support than you otherwise would under the Oklahoma child support guidelines. So the main message is that it does not automatically modify when one child ages out. When other kids are under the order, you must be proactive and file with the court.
Suppose you’ve got any questions about that in your specific circumstances or want some legal advice. In that case, you will need to talk to an attorney privately and confidentially to get legal advice. So if you want to get that with a Tulsa family law lawyer at my office, you can get scheduled online at makelaweasy.com.
