Child Support

A parent’s legal responsibility to pay child support usually ends when the child becomes “emancipated.” A child becomes emancipated when the child does any one of these things:

• turns 21-years-old;
• gets married;
• joins the military and serves full-time; or
• gets convicted of a felony and sentenced to two or more years in prison.¹

The judge may also decide that a parent no longer has to pay child support if the child does any of these things:

• stops going to school full-time when the child is 18 years old or older and does not have a disability;
• before the child is 21, s/he chooses to move out of the home of his/her custodial parent or guardian, lives independently, works full-time, and stops pursuing his/her education;
• lives with another person without the approval of the parent who has to pay support;² or
• is incarcerated but not emancipated - for example, if the child gets convicted of a lesser crime that’s not a felony, or the child is sentenced to less than two years in prison. Note: A parent will not have to pay child support while the child is incarcerated but s/he may have to start paying again once the child is released.³

Note: Once a child becomes emancipated, a parent who owes back child support (arrears) from before the child became emancipated is still responsible for paying the arrears.⁴

¹ Miss. Code § 93-11-65(8)(a)
² Miss. Code § 93-11-65(8)(b)
³ Miss. Code § 93-11-65(8)(a)
⁴ Miss. Code § 93-11-65(9)