Motion for Contempt
When the parties’ youngest child began college, the mother relocated and served on the school’s faculty. As a result, the child received a significant tuition credit. However, at that time the parties did not communicate with one another, and the child did not communicate with the father. In fact, the father was completely unaware that the child even began college. Nevertheless, the mother filed a motion for contempt, claiming that the father failed to contribute toward the cost of the child’s education. Although the trial court did not find the father in contempt, it did order him to pay one-half of the son’s college expenses, including credits to the mother for the tuition she was reimbursed.
The father appealed claiming that the trial court erred in ordering him to reimburse the mother for one-half of their son’s first year tuition, including any amount credited back to her, because to the extent she did not incur any actual costs, she would be unjustly enriched by his reimbursement. The father also argued that nothing in the parties’ separation agreement obligated him to reimburse the mother for an amount which she was credited as a result of employment with the child’s school.
The Decision
Citing the language of the parties’ agreement, however, the Appellate Court took the exact opposite position, concluding that nothing in the parties’ agreement precluded the mother from receiving reimbursement from the father for amounts credited to her. Despite the patently unforeseeable nature of the circumstances, according to the Court, the agreement simply failed to include the exception the father was now claiming. This case illustrates not only the uncertainty one might encounter at the trial court level, but also the degree to which appellate courts will defer to a lower court’s discretion.
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