Divorced parents need to be on the same page when it comes to college planning and finance for their children.

Sandy Durst is the founding partner of the Durst Firm, a law firm that deals with family law and divorce.

* 99 percent of the practice is devoted exclusively to divorce and family law matters in New Jersey.

* Sandy has about 16 years of experience.

Laws have become complicated, so such experience and focus helps clients with divorce and related issues.

Durst shares his knowledge and experience when it comes to divorce laws in New Jersey, but every state’s laws vary. If you have questions, please contact an attorney in your state for individualized guidance and advice.

New Jersey Cases

Durst provides background on cases in New Jersey that have hit the news, including ones where children suing their parents to help pay for college.

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Rachel Canning: Her parents were married but had a disagreement about how much or if they would pay for college. So, Rachel sued her parents to compel them to pay for her college education.

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Another New Jersey Student: Sued her divorced parents to compel them to pay for her college education. Although the parents were divorced, they shared a same position about their child’s college education. But that did not match their child’s position – getting funded by grandparents. “The family dynamic there is strained – to say the least,” said Durst.

New Jersey is somewhat unique. It is only one of four to six states that can, as part of a divorce process, impose upon the parents to be responsible for their child’s college expenses.

“If you’re getting divorced in New Jersey, whether it is fair or not or whether you like it or not, the obligation to pay for college can be opposed upon you (the parents),” said Durst.

Parents and Financial Aid

College is costly. When students apply for financial aid, the amount they are given (if anything) often depends on how much money their parents make. Plus, the parents have the choice to not pay for their children’s college education. Then, funding for college can become an issue.

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Not providing funding does not mean that the parents do not love their children.

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Instead, it can come down to feasibility and means due to the high cost of college.

The more you can plan and layout the expectations and rules in the divorce process, the better position parents will be in when it comes to their children’s college education.

Scenarios:

There are various scenarios that come into play with divorce and college:

* Parents have been divorced for a while, and their child is about to go to college.

* Parents getting divorced in parallel to when their child is ready to go to college.

* Parents are getting divorced while their child is already in college.

Parents may have differing opinions on college and whether they should pay for it or not. One may believe in the value and importance of college, while the other does not. Legally, however, they may be forced to pay for their children’s college education. Again, it depends on individual state laws.

Child Support:

Child support money may become questioned when it comes to college:

* Parent who provides child support: Why wasn’t some of the child support money saved for college?

* Other parent: Used the child support to pay for immediate day-to-day needs; did not have any extra leftover to save. My ex makes a lot of money, why can’t he pay for it?

Parents who do not identify rules during the divorce process and when the children are young are setting themselves up for vast misunderstandings.

“I think it needs to be addressed some way,” said Durst. “Leaving it out is a bad practice.