Teen Sues Parents for Cash, College Tuition. Does She Have a Case?

Yahoo ^ | 3/3/2014 | Beth Greenfield

[Beave Meister]

A New Jersey teenager claiming that her mother and father tossed her out of their home and cut her off financially is suing them for immediate support, current private-school fees and future college tuition. The parents, meanwhile, say that daughter Rachel Canning, 18, moved out voluntarily after refusing to abide by their rules.

“We love our child and miss her. This is terrible. It’s killing me and my wife,” Rachel's father, Sean Canning, a town administrator and retired police officer, tells the Daily Record. “We have a child we want home. We’re not Draconian and now we’re getting hauled into court. She’s demanding that we pay her bills but she doesn’t want to live at home, and she’s saying, ‘I don’t want to live under your rules.’” The rules, he notes, include reconsidering her relationship with a boyfriend who may be a bad influence, being respectful, and abiding by her curfew. He and his wife, Elizabeth, who live in suburban Lincoln Park, about 25 miles outside of New York City, have kept their daughter’s car because they paid for it, says Canning, and he admits that they did stop paying Rachel's tuition at the private Morris Catholic High School. A hearing is scheduled to take place on Tuesday in the Morris County Superior Court.

[CityCenter]

This standard in most states.

[napscoordinator]

I know Pennsylvania is one. I grew up there and lots of parents have to pay tuition for their adult children. However, once they are over 25 they are home free.

[PistolPaknMama]

And I also had a friend whose daughter joined the Navy immediately out of high school and had to pay support for her for over a year until the judge authorized a stop in payments..........with no reimbursement.

This is why it needs to be specifically spelled out in the divorce decree when the child support ends -- age 18, finishing high school, dropping out of school -- otherwise the state will decide for you.

[rabidralph]

Unless you have to buy them health insurance.

[bigbob]

The family is what it is, probably issues on both sides.

I blame this idiot lawyer for misusing the legal system.

[Two Kids' Dad]

Unless the car is titled and registered in the daughter’s name they can do whatever they want with it, including selling it.

The teen has chosen to destroy any “family” she had with her parents, all in the name of being a spoiled little princess. What a brat!

[Hot Tabasco]

This is why it needs to be specifically spelled out in the divorce decree when the child support ends

It did, and the Friend of the Court is nobody's friend.........

[GreaterSwiss]

She already lives at a friends house. Honor student, multiple sports.. Something doesn’t add up with the parents.

I just think the parents should pay for last semester of hs and be done with it. There might not be a legal basis but it’s the right thing to do.

[Two Kids' Dad]

My younger kid is a senior in high school and will be turning 18 soon and there’s no way in hell she’d ever consider behaving that way. I feel super lucky/blessed to have both kids turn out as well as they have.

My guess is the parents are wealthy and have spoiled her since birth and she feels entitled to whatever she wants and this lawsuit is little more than an expensive tantrum. Time for the parents to rewrite their will and omit a certain bitch from it. And they need to let her know about the change.

[jughandle]

Better watch what she wishes for. If legal precedence is set her own kids just may bite her with the same thing.

[GBA]

I might have been inclined to forgive and forget, up to a point, and that point was when she decided to sue.

From then on, she's on her own. Go play hardball somewhere else and take your lawyer bills with you.

Come back with a different attitude and maybe we'll reconsider.

[fungoking]

Sounds like she is 18 years behind in spanking; the judge should order the parents to catch her up.

[hal ogen]

This daughter seems to have a major problem with entitlement. Will she sit and cry for the rest of her disastrous life that the world isn't bowing to her presence

[Mears]

And the mother could sue for pain and suffering.

:-)

.

[GenXteacher]

In a sane world, this case would have been immediately tossed out of court, and the lawyer who brought it jailed for contempt.

[Scoutmaster]

Attorney John Inglesino is bankrolling Rachel's lawsuit?

New Jersey?

John Inglesino?

Chris Christie's John Inglesino?

[EDINVA]

Those issues are usually spelled out in the final separation agreement (by whatever name depending on the state). My former brother-in-law figured it was worth getting out of his first marriage without a major suit if he agreed to pay his (then only) son’s education costs, regardless of how long the kid chose to stay in school. IIRC, the kid only went for a Master.

It’s hard to imagine college education for 3 kids wasn’t factored in when your friend and his ex were going thru the divorce. Both had to have lousy lawyers. Or maybe none?

[hinckley buzzard]

Sadly there is every reason to believe the judge will find for the plaintiff.

[FreedomPoster]

One thing that has become obvious to me over the last 15 years, is that family courts are completely stacked against the male in divorce cases. Glad I didn’t have to learn that by experience, but just reading the news here at FR and elsewhere.

[erkelly]

I am going to disagree with the general consensus here. First of all, why would parents who claims to love their child want to see their child a drop-out under any circumstance? What truly loving parent would want to ruin his child's life like that? Secondly, since the daughter is in adult, treat her like one. The only rules there should be for her that normal people would be require of an adult living in their home. Otherwise, respect her privacy and her independence. She has the right to make her own decisions. Lastly, I am quite certain that young woman does have a very very very good legal case; I was told many years ago in a child support hearing, that parents are legally required to provide support for their children until they graduate from high school, even if they turn 18 while in school. Whether or not they would be required to pay for a private school is another question, but they certainly do have to provide for their daughter's support until she graduates, and they could go to jail if they do not. And if they have made their home so miserable for her that she can't live there, then yes, they should indeed pay for her to live elsewhere. Denying her the right to her high school diploma and wrecking her life under any circumstances is abusive and unforgivable in my book. Incidentally, depending on the state of course, the young woman, because she is still in high school, is likely eligible for foster care — the cost of which, again, the state will go after the parents for. By the way, I am not a kid, I'm a grandmother.