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Committee hears HB357 to codify Family Court interpretation extending support for adults unable to self-support
Summary
Senate considered HB357 to place into statute a Family Court ruling that allows child-support obligations to continue past age 18 when an adult child cannot financially support themselves; sponsor said the bill codifies existing judicial interpretation and replaces the term "poor person."
Senator Porter presented House Bill 357 as a statutory clarification of an existing Family Court interpretation (H v. V, 2018). The bill would permit child-support obligations to continue beyond age 18 where an adult child is unable to financially support themselves and would replace the term "poor person" in statute with the more respectful phrase "persons unable to financially support oneself."
"The bill clarifies in statute what the family court has already found to be true," Porter told the committee, citing the 2018 family-court decision in which a parent was held statutorily obligated to provide financial support for an adult child diagnosed with severe autism.
Porter said the bill does not create a new obligation but writes the court's interpretation into statute to provide consistent guidance to families and courts. No public commenters were registered for HB357 during the hearing.
