Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey

Re: College and emancipation

The college education should have been decided in your settlement agreement. The current state of the law in New Jersey is that emancipation occurs at age 18 or when a child is done college. The must attend full time, and, college contribution is much more complicated than child support. Your current attorney should have explained this to you.

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Disclaimer: You can not rely on the advice of an attorney given over the internet. The exact facts of your situation, including facts which you have not mentioned in your question, may completely change the result for your situation.

Re: College and emancipation

Ah, the age old dispute: "I have no problem supporting my kids but she does nothing with the money I pay for them; I'd rather pay it to the kids directly". I feel for you. Your sentiment is in the right place and in fact, you may be (at least) partially correct. You need to keep in mind that although you may feel that she is not using your money for the support of the children, the Guidelines are constructed such that X% is dedicated to a portion of the housing cost, Y% is dedicated to a portion of the upkeep of the car, Z% is dedicated to food, etc. I think you get the point.

More importantly, "emancipation" is not defined by a particular age, but by a time of life. The child is "emancipated" when he/she is self supporting. That could be at marriage, when he/she gets a job, when he/she goes in the military or any number of other factors. It can be said, however, that when a child graduates high school, this is deemed a time of "substantial change of circumstance" such that the parties (and the Court) will review the situation and redetermine the amount of support. Direct payments to the other spouse may cease altogether; the payments may only be reduced if other expenses are brought into the equation (such as college expenses). What will happen in anyone's case cannot be determined until those factors are revealed. In most cases, assuming that the child lives away at school, direct payments to the other spouse would either be negated or at least substantially reduced, with only payment required to compensate her for the time that the kids are home from school. On the other hand, again depending on the situation, your total outlay may be higher depending on the cost of college.

I hope this answers some of your questions. Keep in mind, however, that this advice is based purely on the little bit of information that you have given to me. There certainly may be other factors that would change my opinion. Further, no one can rely on advice from an attorney who has not been retained. Since it appears that you have not retained an attorney, you may want to contact a Family Law attorney (either me or someone else) to discuss your matter in more detail. Only then will you be able to rely on the advice. If you call me, mention Law Guru and your first one hour consultation will be free. Good luck! Rob Gleaner

Re: College and emancipation

If your children are attending college and living away from home you should be paying the mother much less or no child support, except when a child is living with the mother. four years of college and you are done.

Call me if you like.

Gary Moore, Esquire

Hackensack, New Jersey

www.garymooreattorneyatlaw.com

Re: College and emancipation

There really is no way to only support your children and the courts have stated that they do not mind incidental benefit to the custodial parent.

With college costs, you should request a hearing to determine how much you should pay. As the other attorneys indicated, it is rather complicated and I would suggest getting an attorney if you can afford one.

My initial consultations are always free, so call me at 732/247/3340 to discuss the case.