A judge decides if a stepparent or other adult should pay child support for the child. A stepparent may have to pay child support if they have acted like a parent (“stood in the place of a parent”). This happens if that person was married to or in a relationship of some interdependence with the child’s parent. The law says that the child’s parents have a bigger obligation to pay child support over someone who is standing in the place of a parent. Last updated: March 2021