<p>Saw this in Yahoo today.
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<p>Comments? Do you think there’s more to come, what with the continuing recession?</p>
<p>Interesting article. However, for most of our children, paying for their college is not a legal duty, so I do not think that we will see a huge upswing in this type of lawsuit. I am sure the divorced mother in this case is getting just a little pleasure in the dad being sued and losing.</p>
<p>“Do you think there’s more to come, what with the continuing recession?”</p>
<p>Unique situation; Dana obviously realized she couldn’t trust an oral commitment from her Dad when she originally drew up the contract…</p>
<p>I actually don’t think this is related to the recession; this would happen in any economic environment if there was an agreement…</p>
<p>But in reference to your question, there could be more to come if promises were made that cannot be fulfilled DUE to the recession…</p>
<p>I think it’s a unique situation. It’s in a divorce context, and contracts in divorce are written that contain lots of things regarding what both parents are going to cover for their kids until age of 21 (life insurance, education etc.), and maybe a divorce lawyer will correct me on this, but I believe I read that in some states parents are required to continue to pay for child support and cost of education.</p>
<p>Star - not a lawyer, but paying for college is generally something you either add voluntarily or not at all. I am sure most lawyers would advise that you NOT put something like this in a divorce decree, but if there is financial capability at the time, it’s done a lot. I just think the enforceability of these things is difficult (and expense) at best. </p>
<p>In my own divorce, while my ex was not required to pay for college itself, he was to continue adding to the fund and, as a compromise he had custody of the account (and therein was my mistake). Fortunately, we found out he was more thief than contributor long before it was time for D to attend college. Still… going after him at the time would have cost me more than the fund had been worth the last time he contributed to it and too, estimating a rate of return on money that was never invested was a dubious lawsuit. So… he walks. Still ticks me off. </p>
<p>My BIL is rich. And no, not in the middle class kind of “rich” but in the really really rich way. He refuses to help his daughters pay for college so they get tons of financial aid 0 including federal - because they primarily live with their Mother. They also take out loans to cover the rest. However, every break or holiday, he takes them to fabulous places like Europe, Cuba, Russia, etc. It makes absolute no sense to me and what is inherently wrong with the system in general. He actually has a fairly public life in Florida and I’d love to see someone do a little digging into this person and blow the whistle on the duplicity (since he’s also a HUGE republican). :)</p>
<p>“I’d love to see someone do a little digging into this person and blow the whistle on the duplicity.”</p>
<p>Sounds like you want to “name name’s”</p>
<p>[Seinfeld</a> Scripts - The Race](<a href=“http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheRace.html]Seinfeld”>Seinfeld Scripts - The Race)</p>
<p>Interesting question so I tried to look it up. Not that I have the ability to interpret this stuff (where’s a lawyer on CC when you need them? lol). I found this link:</p>
<p>[Child</a> Support - Child Support And College Tuition](<a href=“http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/childsupportresources/a/childsupportcol.htm]Child”>Divorce Support and Advice)</p>
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<p>And these states which have relevant statutes:</p>
<p>Alabama - Courts may require parents to provide post-minority support for child’s college education. Bayliss v. Bayliss, 550 So. 2d 1038 (1989); Ala. Code § 30-3-1.</p>
<p>Alaska - Courts may not require parents to pay for college. H.P.A. v. S.C.A., 704 P.2d 205 (Alaska 1985).</p>
<p>Hawaii - Haw. Rev. Stat. § 580-47 and Haw. C.S.G. provide that courts may order support for adult children in college.</p>
<p>Illinois - 750 Ill. Law. Con. Stat. § 5/513 provides that court may make provisions for educational expenses of child, whether or minor or majority age.</p>
<p>Indiana - Ind. Code § 31-1-11.5-12(b)(1) provides that a child support order may include sums for institution of higher learning.</p>
<p>Mississippi - Age of majority is 21; college support may be ordered. Stokes v. Martin, 596 So. 2d 879 (Miss. 1992).</p>
<p>New Hampshire - Gnirk v. Gnirk, 134 N.H. 199, 589 A.2d 1008 (1991) held that support may be awarded for college expenses.</p>
<p>New Jersey - Newburgh v. Newburgh, 88 N.J. 529, 443 A.2d 1031 (1982) held that court has jurisdiction to entertain motion to modify original judgment of divorce to award payment of college expenses.</p>
<p>New York - N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 240(1-b)(c)(7) provides that court may award educational expenses for college to age 21.</p>
<p>North Dakota - N.D. Cent. Code § 14-09-08 allows court to order college expenses. Donarski v. Donarski, 581 N.W.2d 130 (N.D. 1998)</p>
<p>Pennsylvania - No authority to award college support. Curtis v. Kline, 542 Pa. 249, 666 A.2d 265 (1995)</p>
<p>South Carolina - Court may order college support. Risinger v. Risinger, 273 S.C. 36, 253 S.E.2d 652 (1979)</p>
<p>Washington – Wash. Rev. Code § 26.19.090 provides that the court may, in its discretion, award college support.</p>
<p>Modadunn: Your story sounds like another divorce that I know. It was a really nasty divorce. The dad had always said he’d pay for college and that they could easily afford the most expensive private college. But then, when the divorce papers were being written up and rehashed, he said he’d only pay for the costs of our in-state. Anything beyond that was not necessary and/or required. Now the mom has to sell the house and get a job to pay for the cost differential.</p>
<p>Just remember that an oral contract is worth the paper that it’s printed on.</p>
<p>^I wondered if Dana got her contract notorized, or officiated somehow so it could stand up in court. Kind of reminds me of a pre-nup. How does that become official, so it’s not a case of “He said, she said”?</p>
<p>Lima - or the kid could go to the Instate college. </p>
<p>I highly doubt I would have sold my house to pay for a private college if I couldn’t afford it or could not get financial aid to somehow make it work it. I know lots of kids who look only at instate options for a variety of reasons. But other than the thieving in my case -which didnt occur until way after the divorce itself, I didn’t think it was particularly nasty. Like another poster said, who could have really predicted that a private college would be around 200,000 in tuition and R&B alone back in 1990? And unless you have family money or some other guarantee of funds, if my current H and I had divorced some 20 years ago, I couldn’t have ever assumed he’d be in a position to pay an open-ended tab on education so far into the future. I can understand both sides of this equation, but a realist will tell you that just because someone said what they’d hope they’d be able to do 18 years ago, doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to do it today. That’s why I thought it was fair that he simply agree to contribute to fund it along the way. Should have set it up as a trust.</p>
<p>In any event… It was my dream to drive a very cute little sports car around my 40th birthday. Fast forward about 9 years and, my car is nice, but it’s a mid-size SUV with 117,000 miles on it. And that sports car is not going to happen at age 50 either! :)</p>
<p>*When Howard and Deborah Soderberg divorced in 2004, Howard—a property developer—agreed to pay for the education of their three children.</p>
<p>Apparently Dana foresaw that his word wouldn’t be enough. In 2005, she convinced her father to sign a written contract that would require him to pay for her college tuition until she turned 25, as well as cover related expenses such as textbooks and car insurance. For her part, she agreed to apply for student loans that her father would cover if she received them.</p>
<p>But Howard stopped paying her tuition just before her senior year, forcing Dana to take out a $20,000 student loan (co-signed by her mother). After graduating as an art major, Dana filed a breach of contract lawsuit against her father with the aid of family attorney Renee C. Berman.</p>
<p>Representing himself in court, Howard contended that his daughter nullified their contract first when she—supposedly—didn’t try hard enough to apply for student loans. He even filed a counterclaim alleging that she dropped a few classes and kept the money for herself. In Dana’s defense, Berman pointed out that Dana was forced to drop some courses due to the continued tardiness of her father’s tuition payments.</p>
<p>“They just don’t have a relationship,” Berman said about Dana and Howard. “It has to be weak to begin with if you enter into that agreement.”</p>
<p>Berman also noted how unperturbed Dana’s dad seemed throughout the trial. “Here his daughter’s bringing him to court and there’s no sadness, no remorse that his daughter was in this situation having to sue him.”</p>
<p>After two-day trial, the judge ruled that Dana had indeed fulfilled her part of the contract and awarded her about $47,000 in damages, which covered the initial loan, interest and attorney fees.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Frankly, I see more kids doing this if they can get something in writing from their parents. Just because parents aren’t legally responsible for paying for college does NOT mean that they can’t be held to a contract that THEY signed saying that they would pay.</p>
<p>I’m not obligated to buy my kid a car, but if I sign something that says I’ll buy a Toyota, then I’ll have to pay.</p>
<p>I think it’s actually a good idea for kids to get such things in writing - especially when starting at expensive schools. There was another student who posted a short time ago who said that her dad had agreed to pay for her loans but now he’s conveniently claiming that he never said that.</p>
<p>Modadunn is correct in addressing lima(post 11 responding to post 8)</p>
<p>Lima says: “Now the mom has to sell the house and get a job to pay for the cost differential.”
Lima meant to say: “Now the mom has chosen to sell the house and get a job to pay for the cost differential because they chose a very expensive school.”</p>
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<p>Now she’ll probably have to pay another lawyer to help her collect…</p>
<p>Modadunn- Ahhh the sports car! As soon as son started driving, I decided one day that it was now or never, and went and bought it. All paid for before he started college and good thing because it sure would not be happening now. But, still love, love my 1999 Subaru Outback(158,000 miles), and the 2004 Z4 only has about 12,000 miles on it. It’s fun to have the convertible,but I’ll bet you too would still be driving the SUV with 117,000 miles!</p>
<p>Does anyone find it odd that she had to take a $20K loan for her senior year at a school where tuition is only $8K/year? The dad was only obligated to pay for tuition, books, and car insurance and the plaintiff’s mother lived less than half an hour from SCSU. Seems like a heck of a loan for one year at a low-cost state school.</p>
<p>@Olympic - Yes, that’s probably true… But it might only have 100,000 on it! 
I figure there is still time for these things and the bottom line is, they’re only things.</p>
<p>*Does anyone find it odd that she had to take a $20K loan for her senior year at a school where tuition is only $8K/year? *</p>
<p>Since there was mention of the dad being late in previous semesters, maybe there was an unpaid balance at the school for the most previous semester. The tuition may have only been $8k per year, but with room, board, books, and maybe an unpaid balance, that could easily be $20k.</p>
<p>Dad was not obligated to pay for room and board and the student lived close enough to commute from her mother’s home. The suit alleged he failed to pay tuition for her senior year only. Apparently he had paid in previous years, albeit late. It’s just an odd thing and I wonder what the true backstory is. Since Dad was/is a real estate developer, it’s entirely possible that his business tanked sometime around her senior year. I would actually be very disappointed in my children if they took this tack with their father.</p>
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<p>me too! And falls along with my previous argument about not really knowing how life is gong to play out and whether or not it would be reasonable or completely unreasonable to require a parent to pay for college. While we have always done the best we could for our children, I would be devastated if my husband’s business failed and my kids used to the legal system to go after his retirement to pay for college (or something similar).</p>