Court Opinion

ID: 9610925
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:49:05.293245+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:06.766564
License: Public Domain

TURSI, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The Uniform Dissolution of Marriage Act, § 14-10-101 et seq., C.R.S.1973, provides that provisions for child support in a dissolution decree terminate upon emancipation of the child “unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly provided in the decree.” Section 14-10-122(3), C.R.S.1973. There is no express agreement between these parties, nor expressed provision in the decree for continuation of child support beyond emancipation. Thus, the issue here is whether the adult child is emancipated. If she is emancipated, then the provisions for child support in the dissolution decree are terminated.
Except where otherwise provided by statute, emancipation occurs as a matter of law when a person reaches the age of majority. Van Orman v. Van Orman, 30 Colo.App. 177, 492 P.2d 81 (1971). By statutory definition, minority ends when a person reaches the age of 21. Section 2-4-401(6), C.R.S. 1973 (1980 Repl.Vol.lB).
The early case of Union Pacific Ry. Co. v. Jones, 21 Colo. 340, 40 P. 891 (1895), cited by the majority, is not relevant here because it was decided at a time when the “county poor laws” imposed a duty for support of paupers, regardless of age, upon children for their parents, on parents for their children, on brothers, sisters and grandparents. See § 30-17-107, C.R.S.1973 (now repealed Colo.Sess.Laws 1975, ch. 270 at 994). The present policy of Colorado on parental liability for children is contained in § 27-12-103, C.R.S.1973, which states that liability of a parent for the costs of a child’s care in a public institution for the mentally ill or mentally deficient ends upon the child reaching age 21.
*408The majority’s reliance on In re Marriage of Weisbart, 39 Colo.App. 115, 564 P.2d 961 (1977) is also misplaced. The rule in Weis-bart — that emancipation turns on the specific facts of each case — is only relevant in determining whether a child has in fact been emancipated prior to reaching majority.
In Gimlett v. Gimlett, 95 Wash.2d 699, 629 P.2d 450 (1981) when construing a statute identical in relevant respects to § 14-10-122(3), C.R.S.1973, the Supreme Court of Washington held, as do the majority of jurisdictions, that emancipation occurs as a matter of law upon reaching the age of majority and that the duty of support in a dissolution decree terminates at that time. The court stated:
“There is good logic for a legislative requirement that support after the age of majority must be expressly provided in the decree. The support-paying parent is given advance notice of the termination date or event, rather than being forced to wait for some elusive or fortuitous date of the dependency cessation. The court order, in granting continued payments after majority, can specify the conditions for their termination in light of the circumstances of the parties. If this is not done, however, support will terminate

Further, the court refers to Webster’s Third International Dictionary (1971) at 738 definition of emancipate and equates it with “the person becoming sui juris.”
Since the question is not before us, I do not address the issue of whether an adult child, one who has reached majority and is sui juris, may bring an action against his parents if unable to support himself.
However, the trial court in a dissolution of marriage action is without continuing jurisdiction to order support when a motion therefor is filed after a child reaches majority.
I would therefore affirm.