In re Marriage of Pfeifer
Annotate this CaseMother and Father were divorced pursuant to a decree of dissolution entered in 1995. The decree required Father to pay child support until the parties' daughter "reaches majority, graduates from high school or is otherwise emancipated." Father paid child support of $6,977 per month for over ten years, until the daughter's eighteenth birthday. In 2012, Mother filed a petition seeking additional child support payments for the period between their daughter's eighteenth birthday in November 2006 and her graduation in July 2007. The district court granted the petition, concluding that Father's child support obligation did not terminate until the daughter graduated from high school. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) since the decree of dissolution did not expressly provide the termination date for child support payments, Mont. Code Ann. 40-4-208(5) controlled and provided for a termination date upon the daughter's graduation from high school; and (2) the doctrine of equitable estoppel did not apply to preclude Mother's claim for back child support.
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