Emancipation and College Expenses - Littke vs. Littke - Indiana Child Support Law 2013

Indiana law regarding emancipation and college expenses (also called post-secondary expenses) has changed dramatically in the last couple years.  The recent case of Littke v. Littke, summarizes and reviews this law and how it applies.  

Littke involves the situation where a divorced couple with children’s divorce decree did not contain a provision regarding post-secondary educational expenses.  When the parties’ daughter turned nineteen, in 2012, mother “filed a motion to emancipate and terminate child support.”  While acknowledging that there was “no existing order for postsecondary educational expenses,” Father nevertheless requested the trial court order mother to contribute to their child’s post-secondary education expenses.  

After the parents agreed that the child was emancipated, and that Mother did not have to pay further child support, Mother filed a motion to dismiss the father’s petition for postsecondary education expenses, arguing that “[a] parent may assert emancipation of a child as a defense to a petition seeking an order for educational needs where no order providing for educational needs was entered prior to emancipation.” Mother also contended that Father’s petition was “untimely” because Father filed the petition after the child was emancipated.  The trial court granted the Mother’s motion to dismiss, and the Father subsequently appealed.

In discussing the issue, the Court of Appeals examined Ind. Code § 31-16-6-6. First, the court noted that the Indiana Legislature amended the statute in 2012 , “chang[ing] the presumptive age for termination of child support from twenty-one to nineteen[.]” The court also observed that the Indiana Legislature again modified the statute in 2013, “with an emergency retroactive effective date of July 1, 2012[,] and added subjections (c) through (e) that address a parent's or child's ability and the timing to file a petition for educational needs following the 2012 Amendment.”  Specifically, the court acknowledged that Ind. Code § 31-16-6-6(a)(1) stated,

(a) The duty to support a child under this chapter, which does not include support for educational needs, ceases when the child becomes nineteen (19) years of age unless any of the following conditions occurs:

(1) The child is emancipated before becoming nineteen (19) years of age. In this case the child support, except for the educational needs outlined in section 2(a)(1) of this chapter, terminates at the time of emancipation, although an order for educational needs may continue in effect until further order of the court.

 (Emphasis added by court). The court further noted that Ind. Code § 31-16-6-6(c), which was added by the 2013 amendment, provides that “[i]f a court has established a duty to support a child in a court order issued before July 1, 2012, the: (1) parent or guardian of the child; or (2) child; may file a petition for educational needs until the child becomes twenty-one (21) years of age.”

Applying these statutory changes to the issue at hand, the court observed that the trial court had entered its judgment granting the Mother’s motion to dismiss in 2012, before the Indiana Legislature amended Ind. Code § 31-16-6-6 to add subsection (c). Importantly, the court observed that, “subsection (c) of that statute clearly allows a parent, who had a child support order issued before July 1, 2012, to file a petition for educational needs until the child becomes twenty-one years old,” and because the statute has a retroactive effective date of July 2012, subsection (c) was applicable to this case.  Indeed, the record “reaveal[ed] that there was a child support order issued before July 1, 2012 and that [the child] was less than twenty-one years old at the time Father filed the petition for postsecondary educational expenses.”  Therefore, under Ind. Code § 31-16-6-6, the Father’s postsecondary petition was not untimely. 

 If you would like to discuss this topic further, please contact me. 

What School District Does My Child Attend If We Are Divorced? Indiana Custody and Divorce Law

Parents sometimes dispute primary physical custody because they think that doing so will determine which school their child will go to, but I'm here to tell you that school placement is a red herring in a physical custody dispute. Why?

First, educational decisions are made by the child's legal custodian(s), not physical custodian(s). If parents share legal custody they must agree on the child's school placement. If a parent has sole legal custody, they alone get to decide which school the child will attend. For more about this distinction go here.

Secondly, if parents live in different districts Indiana law allows divorced or separated parents to choose between those districts, by filing an election. The law at issue states

the parent granted physical custody by a court may, not later than fourteen (14) days before the first student day of the school year, elect for the student to have legal settlement in the school corporation whose attendance area contains the residence of the student's mother or the school corporation whose attendance area contains the residence of the student's father. See I.C. 20-26-11. The same laws says where parents share 50/50 physical custody they must agree with the school district placement of the child.

While the primary physical custodian, or the joint physical custodians must make the election, school placement is a legal custody decision. All legal custodians (both parents if they share legal custody) must agree on the school placement.

So what school district will a child attend if the parents live in separate districts? The school district the legal custodian or legal custodians select.

If you would like to discuss this topic further, please contact me.

Breaking Those Old Habits, Custody and Co-Parenting After Divorce - Indiana Divorce Law 2013

There are many growing pains in those weeks, months and years after a divorce occurs.  Ex-spouses adjust to their new normal and often experience feelings of fear, sadness, relief, joy and confusion as they try to rebuild their lives.  During this time, they may also find themselves in situations where they are continuing to engage in communication (which led to their divorce) that is combative, malicious and hurtful.  Unfortunately, many of the negative characteristics that were present in the failed marriage will often transfer over to the post-divorce relationship, which, in turn, continue to affect the children.  In children of divorce, the music stops but the dance goes on. Children who are exposed to on-going parental conflict are at a disadvantage because they internalize the negativity. The effects of marital conflict on children can include:

• Physiological-They secrete excessive amounts of adrenaline during conflict.

• Behavioral-They have a lessened ability to retain focus.

• Social-They are compromised in their ability to make friends.

• Academics-They have lower math and reading scores by age 8.

• Physical-They have more infectious diseases.

In order to decrease the parental conflict, the ex-spouses need to take stock in the communication patterns that were taking place in the past and now in the present. For many years, a common belief was that couples were divorcing because of their unresolved issues with life stressors such as money, sex, children, work, etc. But what we know now is that it was not the stressor itself that led to the divorce--it was the negative behavior they used while communicating to each other about the stressor. 

Dr. John Gottman, a clinical psychologist, researcher and author of several books including The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, conducted longitudinal studies for 30 years on couples and concluded that there are four predictive behaviors to divorce.  He identified these behaviors as the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” because of the devastating effect they have on relationships.  They include:

Criticism

• It is an attack on the spouse at the core, leaving one feeling assaulted, rejected and hurt.

Example: "You never think about how your behavior is affecting other people. You’re just selfish! You never think of others, let alone your own children!”

Contempt 

• This is treating your spouse with disrespect and/or mocking them with sarcasm, ridicule, name-calling, mimicking, and/or body language, such as eye-rolling. This is the “I am up here and you are down there” mentality.  

Example: “You truly are an idiot.”

Defensiveness 

• This can be seen as an attempt to protect oneself, but really it is an attempt to blame the other person.

Example: “The problem isn’t me, it’s you!”

Stonewalling 

• This is when one person decides to “check out” or withdraw from the interaction. 

Example:  “Why are you acting like you could care less about what I am saying? I know you can hear me!”

One of the most helpful tools that divorced parents can have is an understanding that these toxic communication patterns do not need to continue as they begin the process of co-parenting their children.  There are antidotes to the Four Horsemen, which can be used to help shift the communication patterns.   They include:

Criticism-Try to complain without blame. Use “I”statements and relate them to what you are feeling. 

Example: "I was scared when you were running late with the kids and didn't call me. I thought we had agreed that we would do that for each other." 

Contempt -Try to focus (even if it seems small) on something that your ex-partner has done that is good and beneficial for your children.

Example: “I really like how you handled yourself at the school meeting.”

Defensiveness-Try to accept responsibility for any part of the issue. 

Example: “Oops, I forgot to call and let you know that we were running late. I will let you know in the future.”

Stonewalling-People withdraw because they are internally overwhelmed. Calm and soothe yourself before you continue contact. 

Example: “I am going to need a 20-minute break before we can continue our conversation.”

Although the marriage is over, the parenting continues. The transition to co-parenting can be a challenge, but can also be an opportunity for growth. The communication patterns that contributed to the divorce CAN change.  Children learn by imitating the behavior of their parents. As they get older, they will fall back on what they learned in childhood. It is never too late to demonstrate how to manage conflict and role model what respectful communication looks like. Remember: what you do now is what they will do in their future.  

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” –George Santayana

This posting was authored by Shannon Loehr, MSW, LCSW.  Shannon is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis.  Her practice focuses on working with individuals, couples and families dealing with a variety of challenges.  She lives in the Indianapolis area with her husband Andrew and their two children.  You can check out her website at www.shannonloehr.com