Bill would lengthen child support payments

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Parents could be on the hook for child-support payments past their child's 18th birthday under a bill to be considered today in a Senate subcommittee.

That could cost a noncustodial parent an extra $3,000 if he or she was forced to pay an additional year of child support. But it would also ensure students who started school later than their peers would not have their financial support yanked while they were still in high school.

The bill says that if a child is still in high school, the parent would have to make child-support payments until the child graduated or until the youth turned 19, whichever occurred later.

The changes were proposed at the urging of South Carolina Department of Social Services officials who were beginning to see signs that more and more students were getting caught in a gap between their 18th birthday and graduation day.

"If you had a child whose birthday was in October and they turn 18 in their senior year, they are without child support for about 9 months," said Larry McKeown, director of DSS division of child support enforcement.

"This levels the playing field. There is nothing magical in the 18th birthday. The magic is in paying child support until they finish school as long as your child is making satisfactory progress," McKeown said.

Since 2003 the amount of child-support payments paid to parents caring for children has crept up steadily from $244 million to $254 million last fiscal year. The number of cases stayed about the same, while the collection amounts increased from $239 to $256 per month, according to DSS data.

The House approved the bill in February.