Graduation season is upon us, and every week more and more American children are graduating from high school. This is a significant point in your child's life, but if you are paying child support, it may also be a significant date for you. In most child support cases, the support is terminated for a child when he or she turns 18 or graduates from high school (whichever occurs first.) This is not always automatic, and sometimes you must attend a court-hearing to officially terminate the support.

Some parents may not want to terminate child support at this time. If your child is going to college, you may want to support that child through his or her years at the university by continuing child support. You can do this by requesting to extend the support order. The court can then approve or deny the extension. If approved, you can continue to pay the money that you have been paying in monthly installments to help with a child's medical or educational needs.

Oftentimes, extensions for support are given to parents with children that are mentally or physically disabled and will still be dependent on parents even after they turn 18. A receiving spouse can request that the order be extended, even if the paying spouse resists. In these situations, if the court decides to extend the order, the paying spouse will be legally obligated to pay regardless of his or her opinion.

If your child graduates but you have younger children that have not graduated yet, then you may want to initiate a modification. This will allow you to change the amount that you are paying in child support to accommodate for the loss of one child. Sometimes, the court will require that you pay the same amount, despite the fact that one of your children has graduated. In other cases, the courts will allow you to reduce your support so that it is just enough to cover the children that you still have a responsibility to support.

If you want more information about how your child's graduation from high school will affect your support, use this directory to locate a nearby attorney today!