L
Lynn12
Guest
BACKGROUND INFO: First off, we live in Virginia. I am the wife of a divorced man with two children. They have been divorced 15 years. He is non-custodial. He pays child support and has every other weekend visitation. The children are 17 and 19.
The 19 year old graduated this year and she was taken off the child support. So, currently we are paying for one child. My husbands SEPERATION papers state he is responsible for 1/2 of college tuition & books and room & board. DIVORCE papers say nothing about college. He verbally agreed to pay 1/2 of tuition whenthey first divorced.
His daughter has decided to go to community college and continue to live with her mother. She will also continue to work. This semester she is taking 9 credit hours.
Now the problem...daughters mother ("the ex") is asking my husband for $200 room & board for daughter to live at home while attending college. She says these figures are an average of the costs from universities fees for room & board. She has also laid a huge guilt trip on him about supporting (or NOT suporting) his daughter through college. But, like the mediator said during the modification meeting, he has fulfilled his legal obligations for child support. IN MY OPINION, this room & board is just "glorified child support." The grounds the ex is using to get this money is that it still costs her to have her daughter live at home - that's why the "room & board" - and that if daughter went off to school, he'd be paying room and board.
He told the ex that since daughter is only taking 9 hours - not full time - that he would give her 1/2 of what she was asking for. Ex was not pleased and said something to the effect of "we'll see about that."
I know emotionally what she can do but, legally, what can she do? Is there a case here? Is my husband legally obligated to pay the ex for room & board?
The 19 year old graduated this year and she was taken off the child support. So, currently we are paying for one child. My husbands SEPERATION papers state he is responsible for 1/2 of college tuition & books and room & board. DIVORCE papers say nothing about college. He verbally agreed to pay 1/2 of tuition whenthey first divorced.
His daughter has decided to go to community college and continue to live with her mother. She will also continue to work. This semester she is taking 9 credit hours.
Now the problem...daughters mother ("the ex") is asking my husband for $200 room & board for daughter to live at home while attending college. She says these figures are an average of the costs from universities fees for room & board. She has also laid a huge guilt trip on him about supporting (or NOT suporting) his daughter through college. But, like the mediator said during the modification meeting, he has fulfilled his legal obligations for child support. IN MY OPINION, this room & board is just "glorified child support." The grounds the ex is using to get this money is that it still costs her to have her daughter live at home - that's why the "room & board" - and that if daughter went off to school, he'd be paying room and board.
He told the ex that since daughter is only taking 9 hours - not full time - that he would give her 1/2 of what she was asking for. Ex was not pleased and said something to the effect of "we'll see about that."
I know emotionally what she can do but, legally, what can she do? Is there a case here? Is my husband legally obligated to pay the ex for room & board?