COA holds that termination of parental rights automatically terminates the parent’s obligation to pay child support, and the parent is entitled to be reimbursed for overpayments.
Rhiannon M. Stroede v. Jason R. Royal, 2025AP2654, 9/3/26, District IV (not recommended for publication); case activity
The COA held that an order terminating a parent’s rights to a child automatically terminates the parent’s obligation to pay child support and the parent is entitled to be reimbursed for any overpayments.
Rhiannon Stroede was ordered to pay child support to Jason Royal for their child D.R.R. Subsequently, Stroede’s parental rights to D.R.R. were terminated. However, Royal received monthly child support payments from Stroede’s social security disability benefits until the Dodge County Child Support Agency was notified that the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied Stroede’s petition for review of her appeal of the TPR order. Stroede sought reimbursement of $3,234 she paid Royal in child support from the time her parental rights were terminated to when the payments were stopped. The circuit court denied the motion, which was reversed by the COA. (¶¶ 1-2).
The COA held that a parent’s child support obligation is automatically terminated as of the date of the order terminating the parent’s rights to the child. (¶ 3). Further, the circuit court is authorized to reimburse the formerly obligated parent when the automatic termination by a TPR order of a child support obligation is not implemented and the recipient parent continues to receive payments. (¶ 13).