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Paying for College in Alabama After Divorce

In Alabama the judge has the discretion to order a divorced parent to help pay for college even after the child is an adult, if the relief is requested or the issue is reserved while the child is still a minor. The seminal case on this issue is Ex parte Bayliss, 550 So.2d 986 (Ala. 1989).

If the children demonstrate an aptitude and a desire to attend college and the non-custodial parent can afford to help with expenses, most judges would order payment. It's reversible error for a trial court simply to extend child support past the age of majority of the subject children, so that's not likely.

In Alabama, per the Bayliss case, there are four and only four categories of expenses the judge has the discretion to require a parent to pay for college: tuition, fees, room and board, and books. You can check out the current and projected college costs and see how much money that's likely to be. Make sure you figure it WITHOUT the Transportation and Misc. and Personal Expenses, because they're not in the court's jurisdiction. At least for wage earners making less than $120,000 or so, the standard when the school isn't yet decided would likely be the cost at Alabama or Auburn, not the cost at a private college.

How much of that the court would expect each parent to contribute depends on the parents' respective incomes and the proclivities of the judge. The default, the easy percentage from the standpoint of the judge, is 50/50, even when there's some difference between the parents' incomes. Only if the incomes are dramatically different do you see the judge order one spouse to contribute more, and then it's often 100%.

This describes what the judge is likely to order for college. There's nothing to prevent the parents from agreeing to a different approach if they can reach agreement.

A common mistake of custodial parents is to allow the child to reach the age of majority without formally requesting assistance with college costs. If the child has already become an adult, and if neither parent has requested relief or reserved the issue, the court has no jurisdiction to order help for college. The moral of the story, then, is to make sure you file before the child reaches the age of majority (as I write this, it's still 19, although there's talk of lowering it to 18).