Child support ends upon adoption

For the vast majority of adoptions, the adopting party must get the written consent of both of the natural parents. If you consent to the adoption and, if the adoption is completed, your obligation to pay child support to the child will end.

Barbara: I have a son who's been paying child support for the last 10, 15 years, and his ex-wife, excuse me, apparently has filed for adoption and he's been notified by a third party that the child has been adopted. However, he just received a bill for over $1700 in back child support and he's not able to get any information about whether the adoption actually went through and why he still has to pay child support.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Okay. Barbara, here in the state of Florida, there is no way a judge would grant an adoption of your son's child without your son's written consent. Something is very off there or this is happening in another state. No way adoption should be granted without your son's written consent. If your son did sign that written consent, his obligation to pay child support going forward would end, absolutely by law.

He will still owe the back child support, Barbara. Something's not quite adding up to what you're talking about, but again, your son must get a written consent for his child to be adopted by somebody else.