Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois
My ex is sending my child to a $15,000 a year private school and keeps yelling at me that I have to pay half. I already pay $708 a month and make $65,000 a year-I cannot afford to pay her an additional $750 a month for the private school. My ex wife is listed as "sole custodial legal guardial" and has "final say in decisions". There is NO educational reason for my child to go there. I didn't even want her going there when we were married, but my ex insisted because her sister's kids were going there and she has to do whatever her sister does.
In my divorce papers, it says, "The parties agree to contribute equally to the costs of the child's private elementary school education" (I was sick of arguing during the divorce and gave in and signed the papers). BUT...then, in a separate paragraph, it says, "The parties agree that any decision concerning the child that results in expenditures for which the parties share financial responsibility, including but not limited to choice of schools, shall be made by agreement of the parties. In the event the parties cannot reach an agreement, both parties agree to submit such disagreements to a mediator." I have discussed this issue with my ex wife's brother who is listed in our divorce papers as our mediator and he openly agrees my daughter does not need to go to the private school, yet my ex continues to send her there and yells at me for not paying.
The additional piece is that my ex's parents are very rich and I KNOW my ex is getting the $$ for the school from them...can't necessarily prove it, but I know it.
Based on the verbage of our decree, am I vulnerable to her taking me to court for the money (and winning), since I haven't been paying her for the private school for the past 5 years? Or since it says both parties have to agree and our mediator said it wasn't necessary, am I ok, even though she doesn't agree?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Once again, we don't have all the information necessary. If the divorce decree mentions a mediator, then it should talk about what happens in case mediation fails because Illinois law says there is supposed to be a procedure outlined in the divorce decree when mediation is allowed. Those procedures need to be followed. If it fails to outline procedures, or if your ex refuses to abide by the mediator's decision, or either of you feels the mediator is not acting properly, then it may need to go back to court. And if the mediator refuses to act, either you or your ex need to go to court -- either the mediator has to be ordered to do what he's supposed to do, or an alternate mediator needs to be appointed, or mediation could be revoked if the court finds the parties are unable to resolve things through mediation....
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