School Issues to Consider During Your Divorce

Jul 06, 2021

School Issues to Consider During Your Divorce

Picture this. You are in the middle of your divorce, and your attorney presents you with a proposed Allocation Judgment (the document that deals with decision making for your children and parenting time) and the proposed Marital Settlement Agreement (the document that deals with the financials). For many people, these documents are overwhelming and scary. Of course, our clients understand the words in the document, but they have no idea of the legal implications. Many of these documents begin as a template and are adjusted for each client’s individual needs. For many people, they fail to consider their ages of their children and expenses that could come up that are not specifically addressed in these documents. As the school year approaches, please consider these issues that you should have addressed in your agreement.

1. Do you have a college aged student? How will their tuition, room and board, fees and books be paid? While many agreements deal with this issue, I have found that many people forget to think about the cost of preparing a child to live on their own-bedding, microwaves, new clothes, food etc.
2. Speaking of back-to-school expenses-some schools require parents to buy a school supplies kit or school supplies. Should these expenses come out of the child support or are they additional expenses?
3. Who doesn’t love a good back to school photo? While it’s a great keepsake, I don’t love the price of the awkward photo. How does this get paid?
4. Field trips-if this is not addressed in your marital settlement agreement, who pays?
5. Who is the residential parent? Please know that a child can only attend the school district that the residential parent resides in. So, please think about this as you move. Maybe you have the majority parenting time, but your ex’s school district is better-your child cannot go to school in your ex’s district.
6. Do both parents need to be listed as contact for the school per your agreements? If so, please make sure school paperwork is filled out properly so that you are not held in contempt of court.
7. Maybe a parent is not allowed to contact the school. Make sure your agreements/judgments are put on file with the school.
8. Parent teacher conferences-found out from your child’s teacher if they will allow separate meetings. If not, take a deep breath and plan on attending with your ex.

These are just a few items to think about while your final documents are being drafted. Be sure to reach out to one of our family law attorneys if you have any questions.