Can a divorced parent be forced to pay for college? Do I have to pay for college in divorce in Florida? To best answer these questions, consider that many attorneys draft marital settlement agreements where one spouse is beholden for paying college or graduate school tuition or for a similar education training program on behalf of their kids. The urge or instinct to pay for your children’s schooling is a noble intention and a noble concept. It is laudable to want to provide for your kids indefinitely. Sometimes, people will put in a marital settlement agreement that a husband must pay for their minor children’s college wherever they attend school to help them avoid going into student loan debt. Admittedly, a marital settlement agreement is a contract and parties in this context may include provisions with self-determinative thoughts in mind. The problem is this type of provision is usually unenforceable.
There is case law out there to answer your questions, “can a divorced parent be forced to pay for college?” and “Do I have to pay for college in divorce in Florida?”. According to case law, if you try to enforce a marital settlement agreement for the payment of a child’s college now that that kid is an adult, the divorce court will likely deny any such motion for enforcement for lack of standing (power to enforce). Technically, that child was not a party to the contract in the context of marital dissolution. Unless that child is suing the parent that made that promise and that contract, there’s very little that a former spouse can do to enforce it. Florida public policy and family law does not obligate either parent to pay for a child’s college tuition.
Paying for college is not required in Florida statutory law. Moreover, you do not have to pay for your children’s private school under the age of 18. Therefore, even if this type of provision is incorporated in your marital settlement agreement, the likelihood that your motion for enforcement succeeds is minimal. You made a promise. It is in writing and therefore you should fulfill that promise. There is case law that specifically rules, including in the Fifth District, Southard versus Southard which provides: “a contractual duty to pay a child’s college tuition and expenses cannot be enforced by contempt.”
Can a divorced parent be forced to pay for college? Do I have to pay for college in divorce in Florida? Overall, I do not believe that if you have a provision in your MSA for the payment of post-secondary education, that the court has the jurisdiction, i.e. power, to enforce that provision absent that child who is now an adult suing and intervening in some way, shape, or form.
