DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR MY 18 YEAR OLD'S COURT-ORDERED COUNSELING?

I frequently receive questions from people regarding their family law issues. The following is a question which the inquirer agreed may be publicly revealed, and my answer to the question:

QUESTION: Am I responsible to pay for my 18 year old's court-ordered psych counseling?

ANSWER: Your question doesn't provide sufficient details to enable me to provide a more comprehensive response than the following:

Your 18 year old is an adult, but for Child Support purposes, if you have a Child Support obligation it would continue beyond age 18 if your child is a full time high school student and not self-supporting, until the first to occur of your child completing the 12th grade or reaching age 19. See Family Code Section 3901(a).

If you agreed to orders obligating you to support your child beyond the normal child support termination date, you would be bound by those orders. See Family Code Section 3901(b).

Family Code Section 3901(a) provides that the father and mother have an equal responsibility to maintain, to the extent of their ability, a child of whatever age who is incapacitated and without sufficient means.

If your child is incapacitated and without sufficient means, it is possible that the order for you to pay for your child's pysch counseling was intended to continue beyond the duration of your child support obligation.

If your child is not incapacitated, and the order for you to pay for your child's psych counseling was made before your child was 18 years old, it is possible that the order was intended to be in force only throughout the period of your court-ordered child support obligation. However, you shouldn't bank on that possibility, because if the order was intended otherwise, you could face contempt proceedings as well as potential liability for harm suffered by your child as a result of lack of counseling.

If there is no termination date on the order requiring you to pay for your child's psych counseling, and your court-ordered child support obligation has ended or is about to end, if you wish to terminate your obligation to pay for your child's psych counseling, it would be safest for you to file an Order to Show Cause or Notice of Motion seeking an order to terminate your obligation to pay for your child's psych counseling, containing a declaration which provides competent facts to justify termination of that obligation.

However, you might consider your child's mental or emotional condition, your child's need for counseling, your relationship with your child, and your desire and ability to asist your child, in determining whether you want to seek an order whose ultimate effect could be the termination of your child's psych ccounseling. Even if you received such an order, nothing would prevent you from voluntarily paying for your child's psych counseling, but your seeking such an order could create a rift in your relationship with your child.

This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, a Los Angeles Certified Family Law Specalist, owner of Warner Center Law Offices in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley, a creative, aggressive and effective Los Angeles Family Law Attorney serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years, offering a free confidential consultation regarding your divorce or family law issues, at 818/880-8990, www.conviser.net