Divorce lawyers

Oklahoma Family Law Blog covers legal issues related to divorce in Oklahoma.

A divorced mother recently emailed me regarding whether or not a parent can be required to pay child support for a child's college education.

The following states have specific statutes or case law that give courts the authority to order college support, also called post-secondary or post-minority support, in some form: Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Washington.

In these states, college support may be in addition to child support, a part of child support, or a separate payment after regular child support ends. It can be used to pay for an education at a college, university, vocational school, or other type of post-secondary educational institution.

In Oklahoma, a parent's obligation to pay child support normally ends when the child turns eighteen. However, if the child is enrolled in high school, the child support continues until either the child graduates or turns twenty, whichever occurs first.

He goes into much more detail, see the link above for the rest of the post.