NYS Pending Legislation for Child Support for Service Academies / ROTC

2019 mom

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2014
Messages
59
Currently, there is pending legislation to equalize the issue of child support for students who elect to attend a service academy in NYS. "This bill would rectify a situation in which a child under the age of twenty-one who enters a particular class of secondary school, such as preparatory schools or military academies may be considered legally emancipated and thus ineligible for child support from the non-custodial parent, despite the custodial parent's continuing obligation to support the child that continues, in fact, to be an unemancipated dependent. This bill would provide for the continued payment of child support in such situations." If you are a NYS resident, and have a child who is currently in an academy or hopes to attend one in the future, you might want to take a look at this bill and contact your state senator about it.

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2015/s2392
 
I would think any child who has graduated from high school and is 18 years of age, would be emancipated, the very definition of an adult.
 
I would think any child who has graduated from high school and is 18 years of age, would be emancipated, the very definition of an adult.
I would have agreed with you @fencersmother but if you read the summary of the bill "Child Support is a pro-rata payment made by a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent for the care, maintenance and education of a joint child, who is under the age of twenty-one and unemancipated." Bold is mine, so at least in NY state college students under 21 (non SA or ROTC) are unemancipated.

Not that any of this impacts me, but I do wonder should a parent be responsible for child support if they child is attending a SA? The SA picks up the cost of education and their living expenses, less the summer and breaks. Interesting question.
 
What is a parent responsible for if a child enlists in the military instead of going to college? A SA mid/cadet is considered active duty and falls under the UCMJ and Tri-Care. Should a parent pay $1600/month for a kid in this case? That was just a number I threw out there as that is what my best friend pays for his daughter. It obviously can vary in every case. That is a lot of money to a support a kid who has all their insurance, tuition, room and board, and draws a stipend. I was a Mid, I get it before anyone argues, that they often need some extra walking around money, cell phone, flights home for leave, the room mom or dad keeps for the kid when they come home, etc. Not $1600/month worth. Plenty of Mids pay for this on their own. I did.

I could see the argument for ROTC going either way as not all Cadets/Mids are contracted or under scholarship. They still need health insurance and ROTC scholarships don't always cover it all and some don't cover all 4 years as we all know. What if a Cadet is AROTC and takes it to cover tuition and lives at home to save costs? So who is responsible for that? What if they leave ROTC or a SA?

Not sure why they don't re-evaluate it all by a case by case basis as each scenario will be different, especially in ROTC. Having a cut and dry bill won't help anyone in a gray area.
 
Now this is what I do for a living so I can tell you how crazy the system is.

If you are married, then you can stop supporting your child at 18. If you are divorced, you need to support your child until 21 unless emancipated.

Emancipation occurs if you join the military, therefore a parent would not be required to pay if the child enlists. According to this bill going to USAFA and the prep doesn't count as joining the military and therefore the divorced parent needs to keep paying child support.

Fun fact: under federal law a child is defined as anyone under 21 for most federal benefits.
 
Wow. I mentioned my best friend in my earlier post and his daughter was considering applying to USNA at one point. I couldn't imagine him paying $1600/month to his ex for a kid that doesn't live at home. He pays for her cell phone, lunch money, spending money, car insurance, gas and health insurance. So pretty much his ex pays zero (minus rent and utilities which are less than his child support). I could understand the law changing for SA, but ROTC I think has too many variables to make it cut and dry.
 
OK, I'll not be going to Reno for the $59 divorce, I guess.

Just kidding! Fencersfamily is the very epitome of happiness. :)

(As an aside, most people think of my SN as FencersMother, and it truly is, since all my kids have been fencing fanatics over the years. There were times perhaps during their teen years when my children might have said it stood for Fencer SMOTHER)
 
Back
Top