If a parent agreed in writing to pay child support and then died owing it, the other parent can sue the estate for what went unpaid.
The Case
In Jordan v. Goff, 160 Ga. App. 636 (1981), a mother and father signed a written agreement under which he would pay her $100 per week to support their two children until they reached majority. He died, and his executor stopped paying. She sued the executor for the past due installments.
The executor did not really dispute owing the money. He argued instead that the suit was defective, insisting that a guardian be appointed for the younger child and that the older child sign a release, so that he would be protected from later claims by the children themselves.
The Court Rejected Those Conditions
The Court of Appeals affirmed judgment for the mother. Because “[t]he agreement in the present case being made in the name of appellee for the benefit of the children, appellee was authorized to institute this suit for their benefit and to do so without joining the children as parties.”
Nor did a guardian have to be appointed. The mother was already the minor child’s natural guardian, and nothing in the record suggested her interests were adverse to the child’s or that the child’s interests were otherwise unprotected.
The Practical Point
Two things follow. A support obligation created by contract does not disappear when the obligated parent dies. And the parent who signed the agreement can enforce it in her own name, without turning the children into litigants.
The executor in Jordan also paid the mother’s attorney fees, the trial court having found he was stubbornly litigious after years of forcing her to sue repeatedly for the same obligation.
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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!