Research & Case Law

 A court is without jurisdiction to modify a support order once a child has emancipated. The state of Tennessee petitioned to modify the father’s support order. The child turned 18 the following month. The trial court modified the order. A year later, the father moved to set aside the order, arguing the trial court had no jurisdiction to modify since the child had turned 18 and graduated from high school before order entry. The court denied the motion to set aside. The father appealed. The appellate court vacated the support order.

With the goal of increasing its paternity establishment performance measure, the state of Iowa conducted a survey to gather information about the hospital-based paternity acknowledgement program and reasons for the rejection of voluntary acknowledgements. This report gathers information on five different areas: the demographics of professionals who assist with voluntary paternity establishment at the hospitals, information about patient education, the materials and resources used during education, potential areas of improvement on the education process; and reports related to rejections of voluntary acknowledgements.

A child support payment vests in the child, and once paid, is not reimbursable. The father was ordered to pay child support in the divorce decree. The father filed to modify custody, and child support was addressed in several orders throughout this proceeding. The final order addressing child support found the father was entitled to reimbursement by the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) for overpaid support. MDHS appealed.

An order must contain findings of fact to support an upward deviation for extraordinary educational expenses. This award is in addition to presumptive support. The parents had two children. The father’s original support order included an upward deviation for private school tuition. The parties filed numerous post-divorce motions. In the latest action, following a bench trial, the trial court modified support. The final order was then amended. The support amount in the amended order differed from the support amount in attached worksheet, and the father was ordered to “pay per pay period.”