# Paying Child Support Arrears for Adults

- Link: https://thechildsupporthustle.com/paying-child-support-arrears-for-adults/
- Published: 2024-05-06T14:23:35+00:00
- Author: MsRockMon

June 19, 2014   

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Kenya N. Rahmaan

Most people know someone with a child support horror story.  The seemingly never-
ending payments, license suspensions, and jail are but a few headaches parents may
face when dealing with child support enforcement.  But there is a silver lining 
and a glimmer of hope that one day, at least 18 years into the future, child support
will end.  The child will have reached adulthood, and the headache of child support
pressure will be over. Unfortunately, that silver lining is never uncovered, and
the hope quickly fades when parents realize that child support debt does not end
when a child reaches adulthood.

In some cases, child support ends when the minor reaches the age of majority.  This
refers to the legal age established under state law at which an individual is no
longer a minor (National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 2014).  The law
is clear, however, there are many parents making payment that are state owned and
are not financially beneficial to the child.  The NCSL (2014) explains that by the
age of majority, the individual, a young adult, has the right and responsibility
to make certain legal choices that adults make.

Based on this law, parents should not be forced to pay support to people of legal
age who financially care for themselves.  Nor should they be forced to pay an imaginary
debt comprised of fees and interest once the child reaches adulthood.  There are
two situations that require payments after adulthood.  In some cases, the child 
support debt, or arrears, is owed to the custodial parent.

According to Daniel R. Levinson, former Inspector General (IG)  (2007), debt owed
to custodial parents is settled only at the discretion of the custodial parent. 
This debt should be waived when the child reaches adulthood because there is no 
longer a need to provide for a child.  This situation could be more supported if
custodial parents were forced to provide receipts of all money spent on the child.
This would be a more solid reason for reimbursement. Unfortunately, the current 
law does not force parents to prove how child support money is being spent.

The second instance, and most popular, is reserved for the parents who owe money
to the state and can only be forgiven by the state that holds the child support 
note.  Debt compromise is offered by just over half of the states, and qualifying
mandated criteria make it difficult for low-income parents.  It is complicated to
track how many parents have successfully been granted debt forgiveness because there
is little or no information provided by the participating states. The reason for
this is that The Office of Child Support Enforcement Agency has not issued guidelines
regarding the administration of state debt compromise programs and does not track
or monitor those states that have implemented such programs (Levinson, 2007).

Another explanation for the lack of available data could be due to the limited number
of parents who have successfully erased their child support debt.  Most of these
programs require between 12 and 24 consistent monthly payments before a compromise
will be granted.  This can be a difficult accomplishment if populations exceed double
unemployment numbers.  Making complete and regular child support payments may be
easy for some, but for low-income parents, the choice between eating and paying 
child support for an adult child is a no-brainer.

Parents should not be on the hook for child support debt owed to the state for a
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant, interest, and late fees.  
The money does not benefit anyone or anything except for the government.   For those
arrears cases where money is owed directly to the parent, receipts need to be provided
in order to account for every dollar spent on the child.  In its current state, 
the child support system is similar to an unlimited bank account.  The I.O.U. is
one that never expires, and the trap is set for citizens (who happen to be parents)
to pay child support for adult children, thus transferring the child support into
government revenue.

References:

Levinson, D. R. (2007, October). _State use of debt compromise to reduce child support
arrears_. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-06-06-
00070.pdf

National Conference of State Legislatures (2014, January). _Termination of Child
Support- Age of Majority_. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/
human-services/termination-of-child-support-age-of-majority.aspx