The child support order you have now to pay her mother will still be in effect and enforcable until you file to modify your child support order, so you need to petition for a change with the court. If it is currently ordered that you pay support until she finishes high school, or later if you're in a state that orders support beyond that time, you're still responsible for paying support to her mother until a judge changes the existing order.

If you don't file with the court for the change in custody, it could be argued that she's simply on an extended visit with you, particularly if she did this against her mother's wishes and her mother still has a home for her to return to. Do this modification as soon as possible, as you won't be able to have the order modified retroactively from your filing date. At that time, her mother would then be ordered to pay support to you instead.

Hopefully, you can get the other parent to agree that now you don't have to make the payments to that parent anymore, because obviously those payments are needed to pay expenses associated with your daughter.

If you don't quite trust the other parent, you could have some paper signed, witnessed, and notarized, stating that your support payments end on a certain date due to transfer of custody by agreement of the parents.

That paper could be filed with the court, but doesn't have to be, unless you have reason to suspect that the other parent will try to make trouble.

If your payments are being made through a court office and not directly to the other parent, then you have to be very strict and formal about ceasing payments, and should inquire as to what procedure and documents are required to do so at your local payment office or family court.

My family just went through a similar situation. Child support does not stop automatically, you have to motion the court to modify your child support order.

My step son, who was 17 at the time, came to live with us last December because he wasn't getting along with his mother. My husband, motioned the court for a change in custody. Once the change of custody was determined, this automatically adjusted the child support. At this point in time, the 17 year old's mother was ordered to pay child support to my husband.

Since then, my step son turned 18 this past July and his mother motioned the court to modify the support order because her son was now emancipated. She filed this motion with the court this past August, and we have a court date set in late October to straighten it all out.

It is best to modify custody first when a child moves into you residence. In addition, the sooner you motion the court for the change of custody, the better. Even though my step son turned 18 in July, it is now October and his mother has still been paying child support for him all the while because the court date has not come up yet. However, if you fie for a change in custody, the child support change goes into effect when you file the change in custody. If you choose to file a motion to modify support only, you may be stuck waiting anywhere from 4 to 7 months longer for the change to occur.

In this day and age, most courts have websites and you can locate the forms needed on line. Look up you local family court on the internet and print out the forms to modify custody and the form to modify child support. Fill the forms out and drop them off with the clerk at your local family court. If you can not find the right forms on line, go directly to the court and ask the clerk for the forms. As always, it is advisable to have an attorney involved whenever custody is an issue, but that is your choice to make.

In most states, the norm is that child support is to be paid until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, which ever comes first. Considering it's only October now, there is a good deal of the school year left. The child support change will be based on when you filed the motion to modify the custody.

Best of luck to you and best wishes!