In Pennsylvania, parents have no legal obligation to contribute to their child’s college education expenses. Different people have different opinions about whether it’s a good idea to help children pay for college. Some divorced parents agree to help pay for college in some manner. Some parents even include that obligation in a written contract. In my opinion, including such a provision in a written contract is a bad idea. If you’re inclined to do it anyway, the provision should be extremely specific about what the expectations are for both parents and their child.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently addressed such an issue in Mazurek v. Russell, 2014 PA Super 130 (June 24, 2014). In this case, the court held a parent in contempt of court for violating a provision of the parties’ divorce contract, which required the parent to pay for college costs. The Superior Court reversed the finding of contempt after looking at the circumstances of the case. This parent had been estranged from the child for five years, the child chose a college at which the costs exceeded $50,000 per year without consulting the parent, and the parent showed that the child had not made significant academic progress in high school.
You may look at this situation and read the case and decide the court was absolutely wrong. Or you may applaud the court for getting the decision right. I can argue either side of that case, which is part of what I learned in law school. My point is not whether the court was right or wrong. My point is that the litigation over this issue could have been avoided up front by not including that provision in the agreement. Or if this parent believed it was absolutely necessary to include the provision, he or she could have made sure the expectations and limits for everyone involved were clearly spelled out.
You should make sure you understand every provision of a contract into which you are entering. You never know when it may come back to haunt you. And even if you “win” in the end, it may be a long, expensive process.
If you would like to discuss this issue or any other family law related issue, please contact me.