Majority Rules: Establishing Postamajority Support to Disabled Children in New York

• Published date: 01 April 2022
• Author: Kamila Marek
• Date: 01 April 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12646

STUDENT NOTES

Majority Rules: Establishing Postamajority Support

to Disabled Children in New York

Kamila Marek

Hofstra Law School, Hempstead, USA

Correspondence

Kamila Marek, Hofstra Law School,

Hempstead, US

Email: kamilamarek7@gmail.com

Abstract

Many families in New York have disabled children who

are chronically dependent on others for care. Yet, the

State is in the minority of jurisdictions that fails to ade-

quately recognize a parental duty to support a disabled

adult child. New York law generally terminates a parent's

legal duty to provide support once his or her child reaches

the age of majority. This Note proposes adopting legisla-

tion in New York to enforce an indefinite postmajority

support order if: (1) the child became disabled prior to his

or her eighteenth birthday and (2) the child is incapable of

becoming self-sufficient.

KEYWORDS

adult child, child support, disability, duty of support, Postmajority

Key Points for the Family Law Community

•The most common instances in which courts order child

support to continue past the age of majority are higher

post-secondary education and disability.

•As of 2018, over 500,000 New York residents between

the ages of 3 and 21 have been diagnosed with some

type of disability.

•Postmajority child support is available in 42 states on the

grounds that a noncustodial parent has a duty to support

his or her child—one that does not terminate merely

because the child reaches the age of majority.

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12646

© 2022 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2022;60:353–367. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 353