Child Support and Children's Educational Needs
There are a great many misconceptions about child support and the expenses a custodial parent can ask to have covered by the non-custodial parent. There are many complicated questions involving educational expenses, including what occurs when the child reaches the age of 18.
Because child support is responsive to the needs of the child and the ability of the parents to pay, there are no simple answers to complex questions. Most often the answer is, "It depends." Emancipation of a child is not a simple scenario.
If you would like to talk with a knowledgeable New Jersey child custody attorney to understand your responsibilities to pay for educational expenses or other costs for a child over age 18, contact the law office of Iandoli, Edens & Weinberger, LLC. With extensive years of family law experience to their credit, any of our child custody attorneys can answer your questions or help you with a child support order or modification.
Educational Expenses
Child support orders can and often do consider the educational needs of the child. This can include primary and secondary school tuition at a private or religious school, and/or college expenses and even graduate school costs.
If the parents are in agreement about these expenses, your child support lawyer can draft the support documents to include these expenses. If both parents do not agree-for example, if one parent believes the child needs to attend a private school and the other parent disagrees-the case will need to be brought to a New Jersey family court judge for a decision.
We can help you gather the documentation to support your side of the case regarding private school tuition, expenses and costs.
Emancipation of a Child
A child becomes emancipated (legally an adult) generally upon reaching age 18, if the child marries or "moves beyond the sphere of influence" of the parents. However, this standard is expanded in a number of circumstances especially where a child continues to go to school.
Before you stop making court-ordered payments, see a lawyer about your case. Failure to pay child support can result in penalties.
The child support lawyers at Iandoli, Edens & Weinberger, LLC help clients with all aspects of child support and enforcement. Contact us to discuss your case.
