Monday, March 5, 2012

2012 Indiana Senate Bill SB 18 Emancipation at age 19 is moving forward

Indiana Senate Bill 18, which would reduce the duty to support a child from 21 years of age to 19, has been sent back to the Senate with amendments from the House. Currently Indiana is one of only three jurisdictions that continues a support obligation through 21 years of age.

Today I received a phone from a legislator about providing language to ensure that certain children are not excluded from receiving educational support if the age is lowered to 19. The bill as currently written provides that a "child who is receiving child support under an order issued after June 30, 2012, may file a petition for educational needs until the child becomes nineteen (19) years of age."

There are exceptional circumstances where a child may still be in high school at age 19 and would need to seek an order after becoming 19 years of age once the intent or costs for post secondary education has been established.

We discussed the various ways in which educational support orders are currently achieved then settled upon a proposed revision. The Legislative Services Agency [LSA] will now draft the language and add it to the engrossed bill.

While the bill has had almost unanimous support in the Senate the support in the House has only been slightly more than two-thirds. Once amended in the Senate the bill should then proceed to conference committee.

If you need assistance with a child support or custody matter please visit my website and contact my scheduler to make an appointment to meet with me.

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More information about child custody rights and procedures may be found on the Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates website.

©2012 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it's entirety with credit given.

2 comments:

Vic said...

Will this effect parents who already have a support order in effect, it was set up in 1994? The child will turn 19 in June 2012. Does this mean he will be emancipated if the custodial parent doesn't file a petition prior to July 1, 2012?

Tina said...

My husbands daughter is turning 20 this November, I wonder if her support will automatically be taken off. It comes off his check every week. His second daughter will be 18 in june. Will we still have to go to court to have it removed or hopefully it automatically stops..