It's common to pay child support for your children until they reach the age at which their state considers them to be adults. If you and your spouse divorce when the children are young, this will mean that you'll be looking at a lot of years of making child support payments. Of course, this isn't a situation that you should begrudge, as your payments will help your children. If a child isn't yet an adult but is in a situation that the court views as "emancipated"—in other words, he or she is self-sufficient—you may be able to stop paying your child support payments for this child. As you consult with your attorney, here are some ways that you can help your child to reach this status.
Career Assistance
Not every teen goes to college, which means that some teens will be looking for full-time work before they reach their state's age of emancipation. A fast-food job might not allow your teen to earn enough money to be emancipated, but you can help him or her find an appropriate career in a few ways. Perhaps you can let some of your business contacts know about your teen. For example, if he or she is mature and adept with technology and good with people, someone may hire him or her as a receptionist. This can get your teen started in the world of work—and save you from having to support him or her when it's no longer necessary.
Housing Help
As a teen moves toward legal emancipation, it's common for him or her to need a place to live. You can encourage the child to move out of your ex-spouse's home by lending a hand with housing. There are many ways that you could do this. For example, if you have the financial means, you could buy him or her a condo and pay the majority of the mortgage. This is not only helping your teen get established, as well as helping you be able to stop child support payments, but it's a good financial investment for you.
Offer of Personal Development
Before a court rules that a teen is emancipated, the court wants to know a lot about the teen's life, and also his or her mental state. A teen who has a job and a place to live but is highly immature is unlikely to be judged as emancipated. If you feel as though it would help, arranging some type of personal development for your teen can be useful. For example, having him or her meet with a counselor every two weeks—with you paying the bills—can help the child's maturity. While there's no denying that you may be encouraging your child's emancipation to free yourself from child support payments, you can also present these ideas as beneficial for him or her. Your family attorney will guide you through this situation. For more information, talk to a firm such as The Law Office of William K. Gernert.
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