Tenn. Father Not in Contempt for Not Providing Income for College Aid
Tennessee child support law case law summary on modification and college costs from the Court of Appeals.
Douglas Edward Corder vs. Valerie Jean Corder – Tennessee child support may be lowered
The Parents had two children in common, for whom the Father was responsible to pay child support from the time the Parties divorced in 1998. The Father’s original obligation was $1,200 per month based upon a court-determined earning capacity. The court found that the Father, Douglas Edward Corder, was voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, and fixed the child support payment based upon the amount of income the court expected the Father could earn.
The Mother, Valerie Jean Corder, was herself an attorney. In a series of enforcement petitions, beginning in 1999, the Mother sought arrears judgments, interest on those judgments, and awards of attorney’s fees. The Mother also sought to have the Father held in contempt of court for his irregular payments. In 1999, the Mother sought an upward modification of the Father’s child support obligation, and won an increase of his payment obligation to $1,558 per month, based upon his then actual employment.
As if the various proceedings from 1999-2001 were not already sufficiently complicated, the Mother requested the Father’s tax records and other, financial information in order to complete the college financial aid applications of the first of the Parents’ children. The matter was not set for a hearing.
Four years later, in 2005, the Father filed a “Motion to Terminate Matters and Close Case,” stating that both children were emancipated. Highly conflicted testimony was given by the Father and the Mother in the various proceedings on whether the Father, in fact, supplied his financial information and whether it was supplied to the Mother, the daughter, and/or the college.
Across the years, both Children attended college. The Son attended the University of Arkansas and then Southwest Community College. The daughter attended Dartmouth. The Mother estimated she borrowed $90,000 against a home equity line of credit to cover the college expenses of the Children, and she argued that her costs were significantly increased because she was unable to properly complete the financial aid applications to include the Father’s financial information.
The Court of Appeals, in a lengthy decision, came down to a conclusion that the Father could not be ordered to provide support beyond the Children’s minorities, such that the trial court could not order him to provide financial information whether for college financial aid applications or otherwise. The Court of Appeals wrote “Whatever Father’s moral obligation to his child, he had no legal duty to do so.”
In Tennessee, a parent is only obligated to support a child until the age of 18-years, unless the parent contractually agrees to do so.
In addition, the Father raised an issue relative to his basic child support obligation on which he was successful in winning a remand. The Father argued that his basic child support obligation should have been reduced when the first child became emancipated. Because he was able to show that he had filed an application for this downward modification, while his recommended lower amount might not be the proper outcome, the Father was given the opportunity to go back to the trial court to present the evidence to make his case that his support obligation should have been reduced to $1,025 per month once his first child became of majority.
There was a dissenting opinion in this case, specifically, that Judge Alan Highers of the Court of Appeals disagreed that the requirement to provide financial information constituted impermissible support after children reach majority.
No. W2005-01711-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App., Nov. 30, 2006).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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