In Georgia, child support is the child’s right, not the parent’s. That principle decides who can give it up, who holds the money, and who can collect it.
Whose Right It Is
In Wynn v. Craven, 301 Ga. 30 (2017), the Georgia Supreme Court put it plainly. A mother seeking unpaid support “was not asserting her right to child support; rather, she was asserting her child’s right to child support. A parent cannot waive her child’s right to child support.”
The Parent Holds the Money as a Trustee
Under Stewart v. Stewart, 217 Ga. 509 (1962), when support is paid to the custodial parent “she is a mere trustee charged with the duty of seeing that they are applied solely for the benefit of the children. She can not consent to a reduction or remission” of it.
Delay and Silence Do Not Forfeit It
In Wynn, the decree required 20 percent of the father’s income, but for fifteen years the mother collected only the $100 weekly minimum. When she sought the $72,146 difference, the father argued she had waited too long. The Court held that “laches does not apply to claims for uncollected child support.”
Similarly, in Department of Human Resources v. Brinson, 171 Ga. App. 905 (1984), the mother had not answered the divorce complaint, and the father argued the decree barred any later support claim. The Court of Appeals held that “this failure cannot prejudice the child’s right to support.”
Who Can Enforce It
Because the right is the child’s, OCGA 19-6-15(e) lets support be enforced “by either parent, by any nonparent custodian,” by a guardian appointed to receive it, “or by the child for whose benefit the child support is ordered.” In Hall v. Hall, 335 Ga. App. 208 (2015), a former sister-in-law with legal custody enforced a support order the father said she had never been a party to.
Whether parents can agree to waive or reduce support is a separate post.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!