A New Jersey lower court judge has ruled that in a circumstance where an unemancipated child over the age of 18 has shown sufficient maturity and financial sophistication, a non-custodial parent may fulfill some of his child support obligation by paying some of the money directly to the child.
The case involved a 21-year-old child whose father was required to pay monthly child support and a majority of the child’s college expenses. The judge conditioned the direct parent-to-child payments on the child’s use of the funds for specifically designated and pre-approved expenses, and subject to a continuing requirement that the child account to both parents for exactly how the money is spent.
Legal commentators were critical of the public policy implications of the judge’s ruling, arguing that the decision not only interferes with a custodial parent’s statutory right to collect child support payments and maintain an independent household, but also suggesting that the ruling was a misguided attempt to teach the child “financial literacy,” or might be misinterpreted as a means of “buying” the affections of the child.