Dan Weir v Pam Thur Weir
Categories
Attorneys and Parties
Brief Summary
Family law dispute over child support, emancipation at age 21, payment of college expenses, and counsel fees after divorce.
The lower court denied the wife's motion for counsel fees, held that the parties' elder child became emancipated at age 21, reduced the husband's basic child support obligation to $115,000 per year for the younger child, and gave the husband a credit against child support for paying the younger child's college room and board.
The Appellate Division vacated the room and board credit and modified the denial of the wife's counsel fee request so that it was without prejudice; it otherwise affirmed the order.
The divorce judgment and findings of fact required the husband to pay 93 percent of the children's educational expenses in addition to basic child support, so he was not entitled to an offset for room and board. The wife's counsel fee request could not be finally resolved before the financial hearing because the parties disputed their finances and the identity of the monied spouse.
Background
The divorced parties disputed the husband's ongoing child support obligations after their elder child turned 21 and their younger child attended college away from home. The husband argued that the elder child was emancipated at age 21 and that support should be reduced, and he sought credit for paying the younger child's college room and board. The wife sought counsel fees and opposed the offset. The governing divorce papers required the husband to pay 93 percent of the children's educational expenses in addition to basic child support.
Lower Court Decision
Supreme Court, New York County, denied the wife's request for counsel fees, determined that the elder child was emancipated upon turning 21, reduced the husband's unallocated child support obligation to $115,000 annually for the remaining unemancipated child, and awarded the husband a credit against child support for his payment of the younger child's college room and board expenses.
Appellate Division Reversal
The Appellate Division agreed that, absent an agreement extending support beyond age 21, the elder child was emancipated and the husband's child support obligation for that child properly ended. It also agreed that the prior unallocated support amount was excessive for one child who spends most of the year away at college. However, it held that the room and board credit was improper because the parties' divorce judgment and findings required educational expenses to be paid in addition to child support, not as a substitute for it. The court further held that the wife's counsel fee request was deemed denied for appellate review purposes, but that denial should be without prejudice and revisited at the upcoming financial hearing before the Special Referee.
Legal Significance
This decision reinforces that, in New York family law, child support generally ends at age 21 unless the parties agree otherwise, and a reduction in an unallocated support award may be justified when one child becomes emancipated and the remaining child is away at college for most of the year. It also confirms that where a divorce judgment separately assigns responsibility for educational expenses "in addition to" child support, a parent paying those expenses is not automatically entitled to an offset. Finally, unresolved counsel fee issues may be deferred until a full financial hearing where disputed facts about the parties' resources can be assessed.
A parent cannot reduce court-ordered child support by claiming credit for college room and board when the divorce judgment requires educational expenses to be paid separately from support, and counsel fee issues should be decided after an evidentiary hearing if the parties' financial circumstances remain disputed.