Under Wisconsin law, child support ends at the 18th birthday, or if still in high school to graduate, no later than the 19th bitthday. People many times ask if there are circumstances to get support after that point?

1. A child with special needs. Under the current law, even though an adult child may have special needs, there is no provision to pay child support for a dependent adult child.

2. A child in college. The costs of going to college nowadays between tuition, and room and board is exorbitant, but under Wisconsin law, there is no law that requires either parent to help pay for a child’s college education or the costs that go along with seeking higher education.

3. A dependent child. An adult child may be forced to live at home due to financial constraints, even though that child may not have special needs or be in college. Under Wisconsin law as it currently stands, the other parent cannot be court ordered to help support that child, as unfair as that may seem

4. Expenses for an adult child (health insurance, unpaid medical bills, car insurance, cell phones etc.) Adult children have expenses, just like their parents. In some cases, those expenses may be considerable. However, under current Wisconsin law, there is no requirement to contribute to those expenses.

Parents as part of their divorce, can agree to pay for an adult child’s expenses or college tuition, as an example. If they do and assuming the court approves those agreements as part of getting a divorce, it becomes a binding court order which if violated, could be subject to contempt. Most parents don’t want to be obligated for helping an adult child with support, when they know the law doesn’t require them to do so; or one parent wants to agree to be responsible, but the other parent absolutely refuses, knowing the judge can’t do anything about it as part of the divorce case.

If you have questions on child support in the state of Wisconsin, contact the experienced family lawyers at Karp & Iancu, S.C. today.