Private School Tuition & Special Needs in Tennessee Child Support Law
- At August 25, 2012
- By Miles Mason
- In Child Support, Home
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Private School Tuition & Special Needs | Tennessee Child Support Law
Private School Tuition & Special Needs | Tennessee Child Support Law
Tennessee courts are more likely to require parents to pay private school tuition if the children were attending private school prior to the parents’ separation. But, the parents must be able to afford it. Judges understand that two households require more expense than when there was only one household to support, but Judges also expect parents to sacrifice. Judges got to be judges by graduating college, graduating law school, and passing the bar. Education is very, very important, as it should be.
- The Tennessee Child Support Guidelines read, in part:
(d) Extraordinary Expenses.
The Schedule includes average child rearing expenditures for families based upon the parents’ monthly combined income and number of children. Extraordinary expenses are in excess of these average amounts and are highly variable among families. For these reasons, extraordinary expenses are considered on a case-by-case basis in the calculation of support and are added to the basic support award as a deviation so that the actual amount of the expense is considered in the calculation of the final child support order for only those families actually incurring the expense. These expenses may be, but are not required to be, divided between the parents according to each parent’s PI.
- Extraordinary Educational Expenses.
(i) Extraordinary educational expenses may be added to the presumptive child support as a deviation. Extraordinary educational expenses include, but are not limited to, tuition, room and board, lab fees, books, fees, and other reasonable and necessary expenses associated with special needs education or private elementary and/or secondary schooling that are appropriate to the parents’ financial abilities and to the lifestyle of the child if the parents and child were living together.
(ii) In determining the amount of deviation for extraordinary educational expenses, scholarships, grants, stipends, and other cost-reducing programs received by or on behalf of the child shall be considered.
(iii) If a deviation is allowed for extraordinary educational expenses, a monthly average of these expenses shall be based on evidence of prior or anticipated expenses and entered on the Worksheet in the deviation section.
2. Special Expenses.
(i) Special expenses incurred for child rearing which can be quantified may be added to the child support obligation as a deviation from the PCSO. Such expenses include, but are not limited to, summer camp, music or art lessons, travel, school-sponsored extra-curricular activities, such as band, clubs, and athletics, and other activities intended to enhance the athletic, social or cultural development of a child, but that are not otherwise required to be used in calculating the child support order as are health insurance premiums and work-related childcare costs.
(ii) A portion of the basic child support obligation is intended to cover average amounts of these special expenses incurred in the rearing of a child. When this category of expenses exceeds seven percent (7%) of the monthly BCSO, then the tribunal shall consider additional amounts of support as a deviation to cover the full amount of these special expenses.
Tennessee Child Support Guidelines, August 2008.
For more information, see Private School Tuition in Tennessee Child Support Laws.
Memphis divorce attorney, Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA, practices family law exclusively with the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC in Memphis, Tennessee. To learn more about Tennessee child support laws, read and view:
