Child Support Modification Upon Emancipation of a Child

A non-custodial parent's support obligation generally continues until their child reaches the age of legal majority or becomes emancipated. Where a child has achieved independence from effective parental control, and is no longer dependent upon parental support, the child support obligation may be terminated, even if the child has not yet reached the age of majority. The most common cause of emancipation, however, is attainment of the age of majority.

Change of Residence in Child Custody

The change of residence of the person who has physical custody of a child does not automatically require a change of custody of the child or relitigation of the issue. The laws vary from state to state as to who has the burden of proving that the relocation will constitute a material change of circumstances affecting the child and whether the change is in the child's best interests.

Parent Locator Services for Child Support Collection

The federal Parent Locator Service is available to help locate the parent of a child in order to establish a child support obligation and to collect past due amounts.

Putative Father's Right to Custody vs. Natural Mother or Legal Parent

The changing nature of marital and other domestic relations in the United States, and concurrent changes in public attitudes toward such things as the status of children born outside of marriage, have been accompanied by an evolution in the manner in which the legal system treats a number of issues of family law. One group of these issues concerns the right of a putative father, that is, a man who is supposed or reputed to be the biological father of a child born to a woman to whom he is not married, or who claims to be the father of such a child, to assert his entitlement to custody of or visitation rights with the child or children who are subject to his claim of fatherhood.

Child Support Recovery Act

The Child Support Recovery Act, well known as the "deadbeat-dad" law, makes it a federal crime to flee a state in order to avoid paying child support arrearages. The law applies to any parent who owes more than $5,000 in back child support payments or who has failed to pay on the arrearage due for more than one year.