Child Custody and Schooling
Many parents choose to send their children to private school in North Carolina to provide them with more opportunities and a better education. If parents still want the children to attend private school after they are divorced in North Carolina, who decides if the children will continue attending private school and how will those costs be paid?
The parent with final decision making authority will be able to choose whether the children attend public or private school. If you do not have final decision making authority on educational issues, you may be forced to pay some or all of the costs of private school tuition unless your Final Order specifies otherwise. Be sure to specifically address how private school tuition costs will be paid in any Settlement Agreement and Final Order.
In some cases, if the parties cannot agree and there is sufficient income and the children have been attending private school in the past, the parents may be required to share the costs of continued private school education. If the parents do not agree on the need for continued private school education, the court is unlikely to require both parties to share the cost of private school unless there are special circumstances. Special circumstances would include a special needs child who truly needs to attend private school to address his or her special needs, an exceptionally advanced child who will not be challenged in a public school setting or other unique circumstances.
If you are going through divorce in North Carolina, try to come to agreement on the payment of private school tuition costs and make sure that agreement is accurately spelled out in the Final Order and Settlement Agreement. If you do not agree, the
Judge is going to do what he or she believes is in the best interests of the children after consideration of all of the circumstances but every Judge is different and you run the risk that the Judge will not agree with you on the issue of private school costs.
If you or a loved one is going through a Greensboro divorce or child custody battle, contact Meghan O’Keeffe at Garrett, Walker, Aycoth, & Olson (336) 379-0539