Now is the time of year when your high school senior is eagerly awaiting their college acceptance letter, or maybe they already learned they were accepted at their dream school.
Still, funding a college education is expensive, especially if you are a single parent. If you receive child support, can these payments be extended to cover your child’s college education?
New Jersey child support laws
In New Jersey, child support automatically ends once your child turns age 19. But child support payments can continue past age 19 if your child is enrolled full-time in college or another post-secondary school.
If your child takes a semester off from their post-secondary education, whether child support continues will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Probation Division of the Superior Court.
If the Probation Division cannot determine whether child support should continue, you can move the court to extend child support payments due to exceptional circumstances.
Qualifying for extended child support
To qualify for extended child support payments, you must submit a Request for Continuation of Support with the court no later than 45 days from your child’s 19th birthday.
In your Request for Continuation for support, you need to include documentation showing your child is enrolled in college or a post-secondary school and is a full-time student.
You also must include an end-date for the extended child support. This date cannot go past your child’s 23rd birthday. You also must provide documentation supporting the new end date, such as your child’s college graduation date.
Child support and your child’s college education
You believe it is important for both you and your child’s other parent to contribute financially to your child’s college education. To do so, you need child support to extend past your child’s 19th birthday. Fortunately, New Jersey law provides a means for doing so.
