SO's CS order clearly states:

"The support obligation for a child continues until that child reaches 18. The support obligation for a child continues thereafter until that child reaches age 19 years and 6 months, as long as the child is regularly attending high school full-time with a reasonable expectation of graduating, and the child is residing full-time with the support recipient or at an institution."

BM will read this as: I still get CS until child reaches the age of 50 years old.

I think its crazy that they (judges/whoever else) EXPECT parents to pay for a child's college. My mom had to live paycheck to paycheck with me and my brother. I was lucky enough to find scholarships to pay for most of my schooling. That's what jobs are for. And who knows if dh gives the money to BM that the money is really going to college? I think its all fine and dandy if the parents want to help pay for a child(well not really a child anymore!) to go to college, but to be court ordered... I dont agree with that. My dh already has a savings account for sd for when she goes to college, I think its wonderful.
I think that since its in the court order for your dh to stop paying at 18, then bm will have to hire an attorney and have to really fight for it to get reversed.

I have always heard the only way you still have to pay CS after the said child is 18 is if the one paying owes back CS (is'nt caught up with payments) it could have changed or might be different in different states.

I know a friend of mine who is married to man who has 2 children. One of them was still in high school when he turned 18 and the CS stopped. The court even made the BM pay back the extra month of CS she received. I guess it all depends on your state.

If the divorce decree clearly states that CS ends at age 18 then I would think that would be the case. Your BM could ask for a modification but I know when they drew up mine...they clearly ask you at the time how you want that to go and I'm wondering if a modification was asked for they wouldn't wonder why she didn't ask for that when the CS order was first done.Modifications are usually asked for when situations change (one parent moves or has an income change)and I don't know where that would fall. I don't really know though and I'm sure each state is different.

SS15's 18th birthday and graduation will happen at pretty much the exact same time so at least that is one thing we don't have to worry about.

As far as college, SO has pretty much conceded to the fact that we will be the ones helping. That's okay by me. But, I do know that any money we contribute will be going directly to the college itself. BM can't even help with regular school stuff now, she sure isn't going to help with any college costs. If we left SS's future up to BM, he'd end up in the gutter just like her. I don't want to see that happen. He's a great kid and that wouldn't be fair to him.

Actually, it does not depend on your state. No judge can order a parent to pay CS beyond high school if it wasnt something previously AGREED to by both parties. Many people agree on their paperwork wording, so a judge just stamps it legal. In that case, yes the court will uphold it. But ANYtime the two can not agree? The court makes a standard judgement, and Federally they can not order support for an adult without some proven medical need or something.

I was worried about this because of the thing Obama recently dreamed up, so I checked it out. Phew! Nope. Cant be done without him agreeing to it.

My ex and I had saved thousands towards our bios college, and it was all in his name. So hell yes our divorce decree had him responsible for college expenses with some limitations (in state public school, stuff like that).

We went through this. DH was ordered to pay CS until SD was 18 and 6 months old. He also was ordered to pay 1/3 of her college expenses until age 21. This would mean an overlap in payments, as SD would be less than 18.5 if she went to college directly after high school. In my opinion, ordering college payments is the same as extending CS. All SD had to do was maintain a GPA sufficient that the college would continue to re-enroll her.

I also do not agree that divorced parents should be ORDERED to pay college costs. I can't be FORCED to pay for college costs for my bio-kids. But we CAN be ordered to pay them for SD, it seems.

"I also do not agree that divorced parents should be ORDERED to pay college costs. I can't be FORCED to pay for CS for my bio-kids. But we CAN be ordered to pay them for SD, it seems." So truly a messed up system

funny how kids can't wait to turn 18 and gain their independence (FREEDOM), but sure as hell don't feel the need to pay for any of it! skids are going to be in for a rude awakening if they think dh & i will foot their bills.

DH wants to stop CS to BM in February 2014, the first full month that SD is 18. He thinks that by the time BM a) notices, b) manages to scrape up a retainer for a lawyer, and c) manages to get to court, SD will have graduated from high school (May). He figures that he can pay the arrearage straight to the no-longer-minor SD for college money; that's $3000 that won't go to BM's annual Memorial Day Beach Weekend.

I told him that if the laws in Louisiana work that way, he's welcome to try, but he had better research it because I wouldn't allow him to break the law. In any case, we'll be sending a no-contact request/order to BM the day of high school graduation.

We're already planning to offer help for college; it'll be between SD and us, and there will be so many strings attached it'll look like a spiderweb. Under NO circumstances will we offer more than 50% of costs, and we'll be sure to let her know that the reason she'll have to get school loans rests solely with BM and BM's spendthrift ways.