Q: Are parents required to pay out of pocket for their child's college tuition? This was not in the custody agreement

A: This is not the simplest question to answer because it involves an "agreement" and an out of state issue regarding educational expenses. Rephrasing the question, does the asker have to pay education costs for his child if there is a New York agreement while the child is in Florida. The answer will be convoluted.

Ordinarily, the mother would have to file in the jurisdiction where the child resides, Florida, where the age-out of the child is eighteen (nineteen if the child did not complete high school by 18). She would register her order of custody and of support with the local clerk of court and thus shoot herself in the foot. The mother will be prohibited from petitioning for educational expenses for college in a Florida court.

The cardinal error the asker made was to not pursue the custody of the child. He has a New York age out of 21 which means there is a possibility that if a support magistrate wanted to put the screws to the asker, the mother might win on a petition to suddenly require payment of educational costs and expenses. The mother would have to minimize her contacts with Florida and play up the fact that a New York order of support required upward modification. If the asker appears in a child support court unrepresented as vast numbers of fathers do, he could find himself paying a fortune for the child's Florida education and not knowing of his right to object to such an order.

The fact that the asker was not involved in any of the decisions regarding the child's educational choices is irrelevant unless an order of custody and visitation required such advanced knowledge be provided by the mother. Such an authority, however, would not likely affect an order of child support. As we cannot see the order of custody, we cannot opine further on that issues.