Can I ask my child's mother to pay for private school?

Extra education expenses are a challenging issue, especially when both parents can't afford private school. In this blog post we look at whether on parent can ask the other to pay for private school.

Children's Educational or Other Special Needs

A family court has discretion to increase the amount of child support beyond the support guideline amount to account for costs related to a child's educational or other special needs. Fam C §4062(b)(1). 

In order to obtain an order that a parent pay for private school tuition as an educational need, two conditions must be met.  First, the child must have a special educational need for private education, such as a gifted child or a child who suffers from a disability. See Marriage of Aylesworth (1980) 106 Cal. App. 3d 869, 879 (father ordered to pay private school tuition for epileptic son but not for daughter, absent evidence that attendance "would be of a more personal benefit to her than it would be to any child in general").  Second, the cost must be within the financial means of the payer parent. See Fam C §§4053(d), 4061(b)(2).

Summary of Private Tuition Issue in Aylesworth

In Aylesworth, the California Court of Appeal held that the trial court's order requiring former husband to pay for his son's private school tuition was correctly based upon the father's ability to pay and the mother's testimony at trial.  At trial, the mother established that her wealth had declined drastically since the prior order and she was in a deficit financial position, while the needs of the children had increased due to their growth, aging and the increased costs of living. In addition, her testimony established that the oldest child had educational difficulties due to  suffering of epileptic seizures.  The mother further established that the private school the child attended was able to give him personalized attention.  The trial court found that it was in the child's best interests to stay enrolled in a small private school where he received such personalized attention. The father was ordered to pay the yearly tuition of $2,400.

In reaching its holding, the Aylesworth court also applied Straub, which held that a child is entitled to an award of private school tuition where appropriate to his parents' income. Straub v. Straub (1963) 213 Cal. App. 2d 792, 798.  In his argument, Father claimed thatStraub was inapplicable because it had nothing to do with the needs of a child for private school caused by an alleged medical condition. Father also stressed the trial court's refusal to grant the mother's request that he also pay tuition at the same private school for their other child. Father further argued that the award of tuition for his son was an abuse of discretion since the purported medical need no longer existed because his son takes medicine to manage his epilepsy.

If you are interested learning more about education expenses, you can contact me at Amanda@gordonfamilylaw.com for more information.