Divorce can cause a myriad of emotions. Our divorce lawyers have experienced many of these…
Common Questions About College Tuitions for Divorcing Parents
1. Am I obligated to pay for my child’s college expenses under North Carolina law? No. North Carolina does not have jurisdiction to order payment of college expenses as part of child support. College expenses are considered the child’s legal obligation. You can choose to contractually obligate yourself to pay for college for your children, but that would require an agreement by all parties involved taking on that responsibility, such as including such a requirement in a separation agreement. An agreement to do so could also be memorialized in a Consent Order, but again that would require the agreement of the parties. 2. If I include a college expense provision, what issues should I consider? Here are just a few issues you should consider:- What percentage will each parent pay, or is one parent going to be responsible for payment?
- Is this covering just tuition or books, living expenses and other required fees?
- Do you want to include an age cap or years in school (for example, do you want this obligation to continue even though your child has taken 8 years to get an undergraduate degree?)
- Do you want a minimum grade requirement (for example, do you want to still be contractually obligated to pay for college when your child is getting many Fs or Ds in his or her classes?)
- Do you want to limit the cost to a particular school cost – such as no more than the cost of UNC-Chapel Hill, regardless of where your child attends school?
