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In regards to stepparent adoption, child support from the non-custodial parent is an important subject to discuss before and during the process. While being a stepparent is a rewarding job that fills an important niche in your stepchild’s life, there are some legal hurdles to overcome before the adoption procedure can be finalized. In this article, we’ll go over what needs to happen with respect to the non-custodial parent’s duties involving child support and what to expect before you begin.

First things first

If you are in a situation where the non-custodial parent is paying child support because of a child support order, the judge who issued the child support order must agree to the stepparent adoption. Once that happens, we can then move forward and complete the adoption. After the stepparent adoption is finalized, all we have to do is return to the judge that issued the child support order and tell him or her to terminate all future child support payments from the non-custodial parent.

But what about back child support?

Child support payments are legal obligations imposed by the judge. However, often times the non-custodial parent violates that order when they miss payments, but the custodial parent who is owed back child support payments still has a right to those payments.

You can choose to forgive all of the back child support, or you can choose not to. If you want the non-custodial parent to keep paying for any reason, you have every right not to cancel the back child support. Nonetheless, you will have to terminate future child support payments once the stepparent adoption is complete.

What usually happens…

It’s important to know that in Nebraska, the non-custodial parent usually must agree to the stepparent adoption. That means the non-custodial parent has the negotiating leverage to only agree to the stepparent adoption if the custodial parent agrees to forgive all back child support. It is something that is often brought up to try to convince the non-custodial parent to sign away their rights. Unfortunately, it is one of the reasons why non-custodial parents choose to agree to the stepparent adoption.

In summary

To sum up how child support is handled during a stepparent adoption; you’ll need to go back to the child support judge after the adoption is complete, ask him or her to cancel any future child support payments, and (more often than not) to also forgive all back child support that the non-custodial parent owes. Ultimately, it is your choice to forgive back child support or not.

Are you ready to adopt your stepchild and looking for an experienced and professional Nebraska Adoption Lawyer to make the process quick and easy? Then schedule a call today!