If your child attends a private school, then you know how expensive tuition can be. After a divorce, it may be a struggle for you to continue to pay for this expense.
However, you may not wish to change schools as it can cause a disruption in your child’s life, which is already changing due to the divorce. But what can you do when the other parent is not willing to split the costs? Can you ask for payment as part of child support?
The answer is that you may be able to ask for that, but it depends on the situation.
Guidelines for determining school tuition payments
The court will consider a request to include private school tuition in child support. But the judge has the final say. He or she will look at a few criteria to determine if the school is a necessity.
Criteria a judge will consider
The judge will look at the past schooling of the child. If he or she has always attended the private school, it is probably more likely that the judge will allow the school expenses than if the child has only recently begun attending. However, the judge will also consider how the child is doing in school and may compare performance at the private facility against that of when he or she was in public school.
Other factors that the judge will want to think about include the child’s best interests and the reasoning behind sending the child to this particular school. The judge can also consider anything else he or she feels influences the decision.
Private school tuition may not be a part of child support orders in your case, but you can always ask for the judge to consider it.