Negotiating College Costs as Part of Your Divorce

May 5, 2017

In the United States, one out of two marriages end in divorce, and if you’re one of those families, you know that divorce affects every person involved — not just the parents. Divorce is multifaceted, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed when working out the financial logistics, especially negotiating your settlement agreement. Dividing assets, managing expenses related to daycare, life insurance, health insurance, school and extracurricular activities, the list goes on when determining how you’ll allocate your finances when you get divorced. And if college is on the horizon for your children, it may be tempting to postpone making the financial decision about how and who will pay for college until your child gets older. But as the saying goes, nobody plans to fail, they simply fail to plan.

In New Jersey, the courts have long held that a divorced parent may be required to contribute towards the costs of college. But, unlike child support, there is no formula for calculating the exact amount parents must contribute. Just like divorce itself, determining whether a parent has an obligation to pay, as well as how much they need to contribute is considered based on plenty of factors. Before you head to court for a hearing or argue your way through a plan, get in the know about what you need to know about divorce. More specifically, what judges consider when allocating funds for college contribution in divorced families:

With divorce comes major change for everyone involved. It’s never easy, but there are steps you can take to make the process run as smoothly as possible. Coming up with a plan is always beneficial, regardless of how near or far college may be for your child (or children). While you negotiate your settlement agreement, never negotiate your child’s future.

Post Polak’s family lawyers know how intimidating it can be to prepare for funding college expenses during — what can be — a complicated divorce process. Our team of professionals have decades of experience in family law, so you can have access to information that will save you time and money when negotiating college compensation in a divorce agreement.

Of course, college compensation shouldn’t only fall on you — setting parameters for your child regarding his or her own college expenses can be beneficial and is vital to some parents. Check out Part Two of our top considerations for negotiating college costs as part of your divorce when it comes to how your childcan contribute.

Divorce doesn’t have to be overwhelming, let us show you how. For a free phone consultation, call us at (973) 228-9900, or click here for more information.