Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois
Child support/college tuition
I got divorce 12 years ago. In my original divorce order it states that the parties agree to be responsible for 1/2 of the childs college education, including but not limited to tuition, supplies,fees, and costs. It also states that if the child is able to contribute to the cost, the parties will only pay what he cannot. I also am paying 400.00 a month in child support. The child turn 18 this past September but is still in high school till this June. So I figure I still have to pay child support till he graduates high school in June. First, am I legally responsible to continue to pay child support while he is in high school even though he is 18 years old? Second, Does child support end at age 18 even if he lives at home and is going to college? Last, back when I was handed this divorce order I was devastated and just signed it not thinking what the future was going to be. Now I am remarried and have two small children and my wife's daughter who is handicap. Because of this my financial situation has change since I signed this divorce order. Am I legally responsible to provide to the cost of college for this child?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Child support/college tuition
Unless a court order (or marital settlement agreement incorporated into a court order) requires your to pay child support past age eighteen, you are not obliged to do so. However, it is not as simple as that.
Illinois law (750 ILCS 5/513) provides in part: �Support for Non-minor Children and Educational Expenses. (a) The court may award sums of money out of the property and income of either or both parties . . . , as equity may require, for the support of the child or children of the parties who have attained majority in the following instances:
* * *
"(2) The Court may also may make provision for the educational expenses of the child or children of the parties, whether of minor or majority age, and an application for educational expenses may be made before or after the child has attained majority, . . . . The authority under this Section to make provision for educational expenses extends not only to periods of college education or professional or other training after graduation from high school, but also to any period during which the child of the parties is still attending high school, even though he or she attained the age of 18. . . .�
Thus, if you stop paying support, your ex can file for continuing support under this section. With regard to college expenses, your divorce decree controls. However, you can seek modification of the terms of your decree upon a showing of substantial change in circumstances, but because you expressly agreed to pay a portion of college costs, this will be more difficult than it otherwise might have been. Once you have overcome the provisions of your agreement to pay, the court will consider the following in setting the amount you should pay; �all relevant factors that appear reasonable and necessary, including: (1) The financial resources of both parents. (2) The standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not been dissolved. (3) The financial resources of the child. (4) The child's academic performance.�
Knowing that you might have to pay something, one way or the other, should motivate you to settle this matter rather than come out fighting right away.
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