A New Jersey court has ordered the estranged parents of a 21-year-old to pay their daughter’s college tuition.
21-year old Caitlyn Ricci sued her divorced parents for her college tuition and won. A judge ordered the parents to pay $16,000 for this year at Temple University in Philadelphia and said they would need to continue to pay her tuition costs for the length of her studies.
A Camden County, New Jersey, judge used a legal precedent in the state that says divorced parents may be required to help pay for their child’s education, regardless of the child’s age, the ABC affiliate reported.
Her parents, Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey, told the TV station that they haven’t spoken with their daughter for almost two years and that her court appearances in this case are the only time they have seen her.
“From the time Caitlyn was a teenager she was a challenging child, but I think all teenagers are,” McGarvey said. “I think she just wants money. She wants us to pay for her education. She feels this is owed to her.”
Caitlyn’s grandparents are paying for her lawyer, Andrew Rochester.
“The law in New Jersey is so clear. It is cut and dry. The law says parents are supposed to contribute to their children’s post-secondary expenses,” Rochester told WPVI-TV.
McGarvey and Ricci are appealing the ruling. They have not paid the now-overdue tuition bill.
“When he ruled that way, I said there is no way she is getting anything from me until we establish some kind of a relationship again,” her father said.
