I owe thousands in back child support. Does the obligation to pay ever lapse?
Child support is a legal obligation that not even bankruptcy can eliminate. They are your children and they need your support, both materially and emotionally. If, as it seems, you are trying to avoid both them and your responsibility to them, they might be better off without you in their lives, but that doesn’t cancel out the child support payments. It should be mentioned that this question was originally phrased ‘ How long before this is old news and x and kids can kiss off?’ The moderators toned it down somewhat! If in doubt, always consult a lawyer – and do let us all know what the lawyer tells you!! ‘When?’ the answer is probably ‘never.’ As long as collection action takes place, it remains an active file with whatever child support enforcement agency operates in your jurisdiction. You can go back to court to try to have the outstanding arrears reduced or eliminated, but you would have to prove to the court that the amount was set wrong in the first place or that you had already p
