Enforceability of an oral agreement to support an adult child

Parents share an equal duty to support their child. Family Code §§3900, 4053(a)-(b), 4062. Typically, that duty continues until the child graduates from high school or reaches the age of 19, whichever happens first. Family Code §3901(a).
However, nothing prevents a parent from agreeing to provide additional support, including paying to support an adult child. See Family Code §3901(b); In re Marriage of Rosenfeld & Gross (2014) 225 Cal.App.4th 478.
Family Code §3587 provides: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court has the authority to approve a stipulated agreement by the parents to pay for the support of an adult child or for the continuation of child support after a child attains the age of 18 years and to make a support order to effectuate the agreement.”
To be enforceable, a parent’s agreement to support an adult child must meet the requirements of a valid contract.
“Upon sufficient consideration, the parent may agree and be bound to do more than the statute requires, so long as the additional obligation is not contrary to nor inconsistent with the statutory provision. There is nothing in the law to prevent a parent from contracting to support a child, minor or adult, married or unmarried. And when the agreement is founded upon sufficient consideration, the contractual obligation is not measured by legal duties otherwise imposed.” In re Marriage of PILCHER (1975) 51 Cal.App.3d 142, 147 (citing Kamper v. Kamper (1941) 17 Cal.2d 718, 721).
“Unlike the authority to order support for a minor child, which derives from the parents’ law-imposed duty to support children until adulthood under Family Code §§3900, 3901, or the authority to order support for an incapacitated adult child, which derives from the parents’ law-imposed duty to ‘maintain a child of whatever age who is incapacitated from earning a living and without sufficient means’ under Family Code §3910, the court’s authority to order adult child support under Family Code §3587 derives entirely from the parents’ agreement to pay such support. Because the court’s authority is rooted in the parents’ contractual agreement, it follows that he parents’ agreement also may restrict the court’s authority to modify an order for adult child support made under Family Code §3587.”
Was the oral agreement:
- supported by sufficient consideration?
- contrary to any Family Code or other statutory provision?
- inconsistent with any Family Code or other statutory provision?
Nathan W. Gabbard is a Certified Family Law Specialist, certified by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California and practices exclusively family law in Santa Monica, California.

