Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts
post majority support
I was divorced Massachusetts in 1989. Emancipation was listed as follows...child support shall be paid until age 19 if not a full time student, or up until age 21 if a full time student.Emancipation will occur at age 21 regardless of education.I paid until the age of 21 because my daughter was going to college. Recently, I dicovered that she and my ex wife lied about her attending school. She was by no means a full time student for those two years. My question is, is she in contempt of our divorce decree? What recourse do I have to try to recover the 15,000 I paid over those two years? I do realize that the current law provides for support until the age of 21 if principally dependant on cp. Would that apply to my case if the original order was never modified from paying support until 21 only if a full time student? Thanks for your help.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: post majority support
When did you discover that your ex wife and daughter lied about attending college?
Did you see your daughter during those 2 years?
Where was she living? Was she working? Was she financially dependent upon her mom?
Fraud? Because the sum is not huge -- $15,000 -- you have to think about what will be cost-effective? That is, is it worth it?
You decree could not be unilaterally modified. Neither can it be modified retroactively.
If your settlement agreement survived independently, you can sue on it in Superior Court. If not, you would have to go back to Probate & Family Court. In P&F anything can happen. In Superior Court, rules and law are, for the most part, followed more closely. Time and cost must be considered.
Much also depends on financial position of both you and your ex-wife. Not worthwhile suing a stone.
Etc., etc., etc.
Good luck!
Re: post majority support
The divorce judgment controls and you are correct that your remedy would be to file a complaint for contempt. Good Luck!
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