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Contact Information600 1st Ave, Ste 403
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Stepparent
Child Support Liability – General Law
A stepparent (non-biological parent who marries a biological parent) may
be liable for child support, but only in limited circumstances:
1.
When the child is residing with that stepparent in loco parentis (i.e. acting as a parent or guardian); or 2.
During a divorce/legal separation proceeding between biological and
stepparent.
When a person marries someone with a child, the financial obligation
generally is limited to the above cases except in extraordinary
circumstances(death, etc).
All income earned during the marriage is community property.
Each party has an undivided one-half interest in the income.
If a spouse owes child support, the ex-spouse may be able to
access/garnish the one-half interest in the community property.
In other words, if you have a joint bank account, the spouse seeking
child support may be able to garnish part of the funds in the account, but it is
limited to one-half.
Be aware, however, that under
Note that if the child lives with the
other biological parent, the stepparent IS NOT obligated to support.
This means that if the new husband (biological parent) is paying child
support, the stepparent (the newly married spouse) is not obligated to pay under
this law. This statute governs
situations where the spouse and stepparent divorce or separate and the spouse
asks step parent for child support, or in some instances, the Department of
Health and Social Services (DSHS). Also,
it implies that the stepchild must be financially supported by the stepparent
during the marriage (i.e. don’t treat stepchild differently than own child).
Keep in mind, however, the community property interest.
For situations where the stepparent and biological parent divorce, it is
possible for the biological parent to ask the stepparent for temporary child
support. However, it
will be terminated upon death or entry of the decree of
divorce/separation, emancipation of the child, or if the child leaves the family
home during marriage. As such, any
child support obligation is temporary in nature. Between a parent and a
stepparent, the obligation is joint and several, not primary and secondary.
This means that a third party (usually DSHS) can collect all from the
biological parent, or all from the stepparent, or part of it from both.
Keep in mind the intent of the State of |
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