I have three children living in Columbia, Missouri. They are 20, 17 and 13. The oldest is attending college and lives at home with her mom. I am paying child support for all three, but do I have to keep paying the same amount until all graduate from college should they choose to live under their mother's roof? If so, that means I would be paying support until the oldest is almost 30!

Does MO law require the support to lessen after they reach a certain age, even in college? When my oldest graduates in a couple of years, does her support end? Am I then only responsible for the other two until they reach 22?

It depends on the exact wording in your support order. Nothing is automatic. You need to read what the order says - it should give very specific outlines based either on attaining a specific age, or, should outline requirements of attending college that must be met for support to continue. You need to be aware that even once any of those provisions for ending support is reached, you will STILL need to contact the court to have support stopped, as that won't happen automatically either.

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http://www.aardvarc.org

Aardvarc.org, thank you for your reply. I checked my order once again and nowhere does it state how long support should last or any conditions whatsoever. It just declares I need to pay a certain amount to the county family payment center every month - wages garnished. That's it.

I have to agree with aardvarc. You will need to petition the court to reduce your child support if you are not required to pay once the child reaches 18. Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.