Does Child Support Automatically End in Albuquerque, New Mexico?

 

 

DOES CHILD SUPPORT AUTOMATICALLY STOP IN ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO?

 

Are you wondering if child support automatically ends when a child turns 18?

Over the years I’ve noticed a common misunderstanding surrounding a parent’s child support obligation. In many instances, a parent that is required to pay child support mistakenly believes that his/her child support obligation automatically ends or is otherwise automatically modified simply because a significant change in circumstances occurred.

Possibly this change in circumstance involves child custody or parents time-sharing wildly changing after the child support obligation was initially ordered. In this respect, possibly child support was ordered when one parent was acting as the child’s “primary care-giver.” Then at a future point in time the original parents time-sharing substantially changed and now the parent that was initially responsible for paying child support has become the child’s “primary care-giver.”

Another common situation surrounds parents that have been ordered to pay support for a child, and the child reaches the age of majority, or otherwise becomes legally emancipated.

For any number of reasons a parent can be ordered to pay child support, and then something dramatic can happen suggesting that the parent is no longer required to pay the court ordered child support in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

But as we’ve seen – misunderstanding of the law does not forgive someone from the law’s potentially negative consequences.

 

FILING A MOTION TO MODIFY CHILD SUPPORT IN NEW MEXICO

 

In New Mexico, child support can only be modified to the date that a Motion to Modify is filed with the court. Generally speaking, child support cannot be modified retroactively. See Zabolzadeh v. Zabolzadeh, 2009-NMCA-046, 146 N.M. 125, 207 P.3d 359.

In other words, your child support order will remain in full force and effect until the date that you file a Motion to Modify, claiming that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred (i.e. a change in income, change parents timesharing, a child reaching the age of majority, etc.).

Because of this fact, the best course of action for a parent seeking a reduction in child support is always to obtain a stipulated order reducing the child support, or filing a motion to modify and requesting a hearing.

In other words, generally speaking, a child support order does not automatic terminate at a specific time. Because of this fact, modifications can only be made by court order. Unless the court order at issue clearly states that an automatic reduction will take place at a given date or time, a parent must seek relief in court before the existing order is modified.

Misunderstanding, wishful thinking, or pretending that the issue doesn’t exist can offer immediate relief from the unwanted thought of protracted legal action – but ultimately this inaction only serves to compound the future issues and mounting child support that a parent potentially faces.

A parent’s good faith belief that a child support obligation automatically ended or was otherwise modified does not relieve the mistaken parent from the obligation to provide support. This mistaken belief could result in a mounting child support payment that could have otherwise been curbed or reduced by the necessary act of filing a motion to modify child support, based on a significant change in circumstances.

As such, it is always a prudent act for parents to seek modification of an existing child support order in court – never blindly hoping or assuming that the modification took place on its own accord.