Extraordinary educational expenses are a specific deviation in Georgia child support, and unless it is in the worksheet, the custodial parent pays them.
What Counts
Under OCGA 19-6-15(i)(2)(I)(i), these 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 secondary schooling,” if they fit the parents’ finances and the child’s lifestyle. College is excluded, as our college expenses post explains. Scholarships and grants “shall be considered,” and the deviation is a monthly average “based on evidence of prior or anticipated expenses” entered on Schedule E.
The Court Is Not Required to Include Them
In Johnson v. Johnson, 284 Ga. 366 (2008), a mother argued the court had to include private school tuition. The Georgia Supreme Court disagreed: extraordinary educational expenses “may be factored in as a deviation to the presumptive amount of child support, but are not required to be factored into the child support calculation,” and a court that applies the presumptive amount need not explain why. See our private school post for the cases that included tuition.
If It Is Not on the Worksheet, the Custodial Parent Pays
In Hardman v. Hardman, 295 Ga. 732 (2014), the father had final say over schooling and kept the children in a private school costing about $2,605 a month, but neither the agreement nor the worksheet contained an educational deviation. The Georgia Supreme Court held the tuition stayed with the mother as custodial parent: “It was Mother who needed to have the settlement agreement (as well as the child support worksheet) specify that Father would pay for private school.” A tuition promise written into an agreement is different; see our settlement agreement posts.
Any deviation included needs the written findings our post on required court findings for deviations describes; in Brogdon v. Brogdon, 290 Ga. 618 (2012), a $452.60 educational deviation was reversed because Schedule E’s findings were left blank.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!