Marriage may be until death, but the obligation to pay New Jersey child support doesn’t necessarily end there.
As our Shrewsbury child support attorneys can explain, it’s fairly standard for New Jersey Family Courts to require parents responsible for paying child support to secure life insurance for the duration of the time the children are dependents. This is to prevent the possibility that a sudden and/or untimely death will leave dependent children impoverished.
Because life insurance benefits are assigned directly to the beneficiary, they do not need to go through probate. The New Jersey Appellate Division even ruled in the 1993 case of DeCegalia v. Estate of Colletti that state laws protecting life insurance benefits from estate creditors don’t apply to child support claims. Even if the deceased parent’s life insurance policy designates someone else (other than the child) as the beneficiary, New Jersey Family Courts can consider the payout when weighing the estate’s outstanding child support obligations.
Furthermore, any child support arrears (unpaid child support) typically become an asset of the payor’s estate. That means the other parent has the right to claim it as a creditor. As noted by legal scholars in the book New Jersey Family Law, Relationships Involving Children, orders of child support don’t simply become void just because the payor dies. Estate assets can be used to fulfill this obligation, though this may be subject to probate.
Provisions laid forth in New Jersey Law – specifically, those on alimony and within the New Jersey Parenting Act – allow the Family Court to issue child support orders after a parent’s death. These orders, which will consider all possible assets, may be enforceable against the estate. This was affirmed in a 1997 New Jersey Supreme Court ruling, wherein justices held there’s nothing in the state’s alimony or child support laws that would stop a court from ordering child support following the death of a parent.
And what happens if the other parent goes years without paying their child support and dies? Some courts have held the estate can be responsible to pay back child support. In a recent appellate court case out of Florida, for instance, the appellate court ruled the ex-wife of a decedent could be paid more than $282,000 in back child support + interest from the deceased man’s estate. This was despite the fact that in his will, he specified all assets should go to his girlfriend, leaving nothing for his son or his ex-wife. Although this isn’t a New Jersey case, sister courts often look to the legal reasoning used by the others when weighing similar circumstances.
As Shrewsbury child support lawyers, we stress the importance of addressing future obligations anytime we’re helping clients map out current child support plans. That could mean securing a life insurance policy. It could also mean explicitly indicating that the proceeds of certain assets (such as a house, trust, or savings accounts) should be used to satisfy any outstanding payments or arrears. Surviving parents should be able to establish a clear path toward continuing to obtain fair support for their children.
Payors should also consider that by making these arrangements as part of the original child support agreement, they’re protecting their other surviving loved ones. When these provisions are clearly laid out, there is less of a legal mess left for survivors to sort.
Call our New Jersey child support attorneys at (732) 377-3367 or use our online form to request your free & confidential consultation!
