Legal question when parents disagree about bs

Prep School Admissions
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In a household headed by married parents, do both parents need to sign off on attending a boarding school? What if one parent does not wish the child to attend?

The child is very happy with day school options and their views on bs have changed back and forth, currently “maybe.”

One parent is hoping for an offer and is encouraging bs, one parent is “neutral” (but privately is against boarding school, given the great day school options).

So like Goldilocks we have one YES one MAYBE and one NO between the three of us.

Legally can the NO parent be overruled if the child wants to attend after all?

Hoping it does not come to this of course.

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I work at a boarding school and we require both parental signatures on the enrollment contract. It is not a good idea to move forward with enrolling a child in a BS if one parent is against the decision. A successful journey at BS requires the buy-in and participation of a child’s parents–the school and family need to work in partnership.

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Thank you @Tana98 for your reply (which makes heaps of sense!).

Do you know if this is an “industry standard”? Child is only considering Andover and Exeter at this point as contenders relative to the day school option… so I guess if you can’t comment across boarding schools in general, might you have insight regarding the two aforementioned schools?

Cannot reiterate enough that I hope this situation will not present itself. Child may be rejected or waitlisted x2, or child will decide on the day school regardless of admission decisions.

I’m sussing out the possibility, however, that the child is a) accepted, b) wishes to attend and c) the NO parent refused to sign.

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Or if the student doesn’t want to attend.

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Why don’t you call the schools directly and just ask?

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But don’t ask before an acceptance is made since the question is premature.

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Even day schools IME require both parents signatures to enroll, even if married. I can not imagine a boarding school not doing the same.

AND it sounds like an awful idea to be in a state where one parent isn’t willing to sign. That sounds like a recipe for disaster on a bunch of levels.

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Thanks for the idea… can’t believe I didn’t just google it…

Andover: YES.

“Enrollment Agreement - After the matriculation deposit has been paid to the Admission Office, the Academy will send information to each parent/legal guardian separately via e-mail regarding how to access the online enrollment agreement, which each parent/legal guardian needs to complete and submit by May 1, 2023.”

I cannot find a similar document for Exeter… searching…

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Considering both schools have sub 10% acceptance rates- this is likely to not even be an issue.

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Andover and Exeter require both parents to sign off. If your child gets in and wants to go, be sure to do a revisit. It may change the recalcitrant parent’s mind. Good luck.

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This is not really a boarding school issue, or even a parenting issue. This is a marital issue.

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This is not a question about legality. Its a question about decision making in a marriage. Talk to your spouse and sort this out. If one person is not on board, it will make for a miserable boarding school experience.

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Not to mention, an additional and serious stress on the marriage!