Child Support After Death

I had this question emailed to me last night.  Can a man that has died be responsible for child support and can they take it from his estate.  The answer is yes and no.  Current and future obligations can not be collected from an estate, unless there is contained within an agreement some provision that the deceased father or mother agreed to pay child support past their death.  Or, of course if there is a provision within an estate planning document.  However, the courts do not have the authority to order that an estate of a payor continue to pay current child support past the death of the payor, without an agreement of the parties.  The Kansas Supreme Court in the case In re Sweeney's Estate stated that "we also find that the majority of states which have been confronted with the question hold that on the death of a parent who has been ordered to make payments for support of a child, such order teminates automatically with respect to payments which would have accrued after such death."  The court went on to state that there is no dispute as to the claim for child support payments which are in arrears, that claim was properly allowed against an estate.