Divorced dad ordered to pay half of 26-year old child's ivy league law school tuition

[Nova]

That sounds pretty rough. I was under the impression that most students who made it to the Ivy Leagues usually got scholarships from the University itself.

Not if their parents make more than $100K/year.

It's true that working class students (including myself) get enough aid to make attendance affordable. But the upper-middle-class is caught in a vice.

 

[Nova]

...Also, I'm so done with the media completely failing to report relevant facts and legal analysis. The stories end up not making any sense and yet people still get outraged over a perceived wrong that hasn't even been explained.

(Emphasis added because the above deserves to be shouted!)

Yes, yes, yes and amen!

 

[al66pine]

New link for app ct opinion (appears my earlier justia link is 404):
http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/a1770-12.pdf

Info for googling followup:
Middlesex County, NJ, Docket No. A-1770-12T2
Mom = Patricia A. Rossi
her atty = Daniel H. Brown, of Law Offices of Paone, Zaleski & Brown,
Dad = James C. Livingston, Rutgers University history professor
his atty = Edward S. Snyder, of Snyder & Sarno LLC.

Is Dad-Livingston's atty in same firm as Cannings-parents' atty here?
Teen sues parents after being ‘kicked out,’ wants money - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
(teenager sues parents after being 'kicked out.')

from Mar 12 article http://www.wtsp.com/news/national/article/360079/81/Teen-back-at-home-of-parents-she-sued :
"The parents [Cannings] hired a new lawyer Tuesday who said the case does not belong in the court system
and should be settled "in a swift and amicable" way.
"R C, 18, "is back home," the lawyer, Angelo Sarno, said Wednesday in an afternoon press conference."

Other:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20..._of_daughters_pricey_law_school_expenses.html

 

[Tugela]

snipped for focus

IIRC, he is/was a professor at Rutgers(?) and dau went there for undergrad work, presumably w faculty-family discount.
Maybe he ASSumed she would continue there in law school or grad school, w reduced tuition.

If Dad had wanted -
- input in school selection,
- to cap his contrib at, say $15,000 or $40,000/yr, (makes me dizzy!),
- to cap his contrib to same $ amt as he would pay w faculty discount no matter which school she attended,
to limit the years of exposure to, say, 5 yrs post-divorce,
the doc could have specified any or all of those things but did not.

Ideally his atty discussed these questions w him. Maybe not, IDK.

Many Universities waive tuition for the children of Faculty as a benefit, so it is possible that the cost of her going to law school there would have been minimal, that is likely why he had no issue with the clause in the final settlement. His position as a faculty member at Rutgers would have leveraged her education. Going to a different University would have radically increased the costs, and he probably had not bargained on that.

 

[JerseyGirl]

New link for app ct opinion (appears my earlier justia link is 404):
http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/a1770-12.pdf

Info for googling followup:
Middlesex County, NJ, Docket No. A-1770-12T2
Mom = Patricia A. Rossi
her atty = Daniel H. Brown, of Law Offices of Paone, Zaleski & Brown,
Dad = James C. Livingston, Rutgers University history professor
his atty = Edward S. Snyder, of Snyder & Sarno LLC.

Is Dad-Livingston's atty in same firm as Cannings-parents' atty here?
Teen sues parents after being ‘kicked out,’ wants money - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
(teenager sues parents after being 'kicked out.')

from Mar 12 article http://www.wtsp.com/news/national/article/360079/81/Teen-back-at-home-of-parents-she-sued :
"The parents [Cannings] hired a new lawyer Tuesday who said the case does not belong in the court system
and should be settled "in a swift and amicable" way.
"R C, 18, "is back home," the lawyer, Angelo Sarno, said Wednesday in an afternoon press conference."

Other:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20..._of_daughters_pricey_law_school_expenses.html

Yes. It appears that Snyder & Sarno not only are representing the Dad here, but also the parents of RC in another NJ case.

 

[al66pine]

Many Universities waive tuition for the children of Faculty as a benefit, so it is possible that the cost of her going to law school there would have been minimal, that is likely why he had no issue with the clause in the final settlement. His position as a faculty member at Rutgers would have leveraged her education. Going to a different University would have radically increased the costs, and he probably had not bargained on that.

Tugela,
I had not even thought about poss waiver of entire tuition.
Agreed, her enrollment at Rutgers Law would have substantially reduced law school expenses for Dad,
but settlement agreement did not limit her choice to Rutgers.

Apparently Dad did not insist on it.

I hope she's doing well in law school and will put her degree to good use.