Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: UTMA statute / expenditures

Interesting question as I have been through this personally, albeit in NJ. I covered it by our property settlement agreement, which specifically acknowledged that UGMA accounts were to be used for college costs, before my personal obligations kicked in. The key element of your questions is NY law defining what obligations to support a child are those for which a parent is legally obligated. This may or may not include college education. In NJ, there is a question of whether or not a college education is a mandatory obligation of a parent and, if so, to what extent. In many states, these laws are similar, so I suggest checking this question first. There are several cases in NJ which allow UGMA funds to be used to defray college costs and other costs that are not axiomatically true support items (e.g., summer camps). While not binding on NY Courts, these cases may be persuasive in forming new law, if none exists at the present time. I would be surprised that NY law has no cases on this issue, so I suggest you do some further research, perhaps starting with NY law on UGMA.