Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: death of parent

If the dad was paying child support pursuant to a court order the son is entitled to the same amount regardless of the death. The law on this point is: You follow a court order until you have another court order that tells you to do something different. (Or another way to say this is just because the mother died has no bearing on dads responsibility to follow the court order. I would be willing to bet it doesn't say, "pay child support until the mother dies." More likely it says "pay child support until the child attains the age of 18 or completes high school or reaches age 19 which ever is later").

The son has some options here. He can go down and try to apply for medicade or TANF at the Income Support Division of Human Services or he can go to Child Support Enforcement Division of the Human Services Department and ask them to get him the child support. He can also get an attorney, have his sister be "next friend" (sort of like a guardian) and get the support that way.

There is plenty of case law here that will support son's position to receive the full amount (or actually, possibly more because of the death). The primary case that comes to mind right now is called "Tedford". If son is going to use CSED then he will need to move quickly before he turns age 18. After age 18 he can still go after the child support but he will not be able to use CSED. Prior to age 18 he can get their help.

Hope this helps and good luck.