Child Support Can Continue After Termination of Parental Rights

It used to be that when a father's rights were terminated, so was the duty to pay child support in the future. That recently changed with a decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals in In re Beck Minors, decided in 2010. The Court held that a child, himself, has the right to child support from his father, indepedent of the father's legal "rights." This is a major change in the law.

There are several reasons that a father's rights can be terminated. One reason is if the father abuses or neglects his child(ren). Another is if the father refuses to pay child support and visit the child for 2 years, which is considered abandonment and a sure sign of "unfitness." The same rule applies to mothers.

If a child's mother remarries and husband wants to adopt the child, termination of the father's rights can be sought. If the father has a relationship to his child at that point, then his rights can only be terminated if there is clear and convincing evidence of unfitness. If the father has no relationship to the child, however, then his rights can be more easily terminated if a stepparent adoption would serve the child's best interests.

Even after the In re Beck Minors case, it appears that an adoption will still end the duty to pay child support since an adoptive father assumes the duty of support. If, however, a father's rights are terminated and there is no subsequent adoption, then child support can continue until the child turns 18 years old or graduates from high school, whichever is later (but in no event past the age of 19-1/2 years of age). This seems just actually, since the court should not "reward" a deadbeat father who has not paid past child support with a complete release of duty to pay future child support. That just does not seem just.