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Introduction: Child Support is a Fundamental Parental Obligation
The State of Maryland recognizes that parents have a fundamental obligation to support their children materially. For parents who divorce, this typically means that one parent will be required (as per court order) to make regular payments to the other parent for the purpose of taking care of the child’s basic needs. Usually, one parent will have the child for a majority of the time, and this parent will be the child support recipient, or payee. Even when parents split parenting time close to 50% / 50%, one parent will still generally be required to make payments to the other parent.
Child support payments are calculated according to standard calculation guidelines. This makes child support unlike other aspects of a divorce, because child support is never really “customized” based on the specific circumstances of each case. Of course, child support payments are based on the particulars of each case in the sense that higher earners may pay more, but everything is always calculated according to a predictable formula.
Child Support & Secondary Education
Under current Maryland law, child support obligations remain in place until a child either turns 19, or completes secondary (high) school. This means that parents are still obligated to support children in high school provided that they haven’t yet turned 19 years of age.
Unless there is some preexisting private agreement, parents aren’t obligated to pay for specific extracurricular activities for children during high school; the payment obligation remains the same as before when the child was still in elementary or middle school. In other words, although parents must support children financially through high school, they aren’t required (by law) to pay for expenses above the standard child support payments which are required at all times.
Higher Education Expenses May Be Mandated by Private Agreement
Because Maryland law does not obligate parents to financially support children via child support payments beyond high school, parents do not normally need to plan to support children past the high school years, or age 19 (whichever occurs sooner). However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a parent cannot be compelled by the court to provide financial assistance to children beyond high school. In some instances, for various reasons, a parent may choose to support a child financially after high school, and this choice may be formalized in a private contractual agreement. A parent, for example, may state that he or she is willing to pay for all post-secondary higher education related expenses, including tuition, books, room and board, and so forth. The court can incorporate this type of private agreement into a court order, and then once the court order is implemented the financial assistance will become a formal obligation. Hence, if a parent failed to satisfy this type of court mandated assistance, he or she could be held liable and coerced to pay.
In general, parents aren’t normally ordered to pay educational expenses beyond high school, and so the child support obligation rarely extends to the college years. But, as mentioned, if a parent agrees privately to do so, this can become a formal obligation via court order. This is an important fact to keep in mind for those parents contemplating financial assistance beyond high school.
Contact the Murphy Law Firm for More Information
Readers who want to learn more about child support guidelines in the State of Maryland, child support modification, custody issues, or any other related family law issue, contact one of the family law attorneys at the Murphy Law Firm today by calling 240-219-9311.
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