A recent family law case out of New Jersey has received some serious national attention after a father was ordered to pay more than $100,000 towards his daughter’s law school tuition. The case surprised many and worried others who feared being on the hook for similar college costs in a divorce and other educational expenses for their adult children. To find out more about what might happen in such a case in Minnesota, keep reading.
How long can child support last?
Family law in Minnesota says that child support payments cease when a child turns 18 and has graduated from high school. Notice the “and,” it means that if a child is 18 and not yet graduated from high school then support must continue to be paid. The law cuts off support at age 20, even if the kid hasn’t yet managed to graduate. Same thing when a child marries, joins the military or is otherwise legally emancipated.
What happened in this case?
Child support is a legal obligation, however, supporting adult children is not. Though many parents choose to give money to their technically grown children, the law cannot force them to do so. That means that with one caveat, in Minnesota, a parent does not need to fear being forced to pay the law school bill of his or her adult child.
The caveat, and it is a big one, is that the parents must not privately agree to make such payments. For example, in the New Jersey case, the judges who sided with the daughter and required the father to cough up the money noted that the father and mother crafted a special agreement at the time of their divorce which required each to pay for half of the daughter’s graduate schooling. Ordinarily, no parent would be forced to pay this money, however, in this case, the father went out of his way to enter into a binding contract with his ex-wife concerning the additional support. The judges said the contract was valid and that they would enforce it, meaning dad now has to pay.
Same thing here in Minnesota; though the law may not require continuing support of adult children, if you sign an agreement promising to do so as part of your divorce you could still be held to that bargain.
So what should you do?
Given that private agreements are enforceable, it might be best to avoid drafting a specific provision concerning paying for a child’s college or graduate school into the divorce settlement agreement. Doing so ties your hands perhaps years into the future and does not give you any wiggle room should circumstances change. You can always voluntarily pay tuition when the time comes, something that gives you the ability to evaluate what you are comfortable spending rather than committing to potentially huge costs well in advance.
An experienced Minnesota family law attorney can help walk you through the difficult process of divorce, including offering advice on confusing financial issues such as alimony and helping negotiate emotional subjects like child custody arrangements. For more information on divorce in Minnesota, along with a variety of other topics, contact Joseph M. Flanders of Flanders Law Firm at (612)-424-0398.
Source: “N.J. dad must pay $112,500 of estranged daughter’s law school education per divorce settlement: judge,” by Sasha Goldstein, published at NYDailyNews.com.
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