A Georgia court can make a parent contribute to private school tuition through child support, but only by a deviation that fits the parents’ finances and the child’s lifestyle.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-6-15(i)(2)(I)(i) allows a deviation for “extraordinary educational expenses,” including tuition for “private elementary and secondary schooling” that is “appropriate to the parent’s financial abilities and to the lifestyle of the child if the parents and the child were living together.” Our post on extraordinary educational expenses covers the rest, and college is not covered at all, as our college expenses post explains.
Courts Have Ordered It
In Odom v. Odom, 291 Ga. 811 (2012), the father’s income and net worth had grown since the divorce, and the trial court raised his support from $2,065 to $5,435 a month to cover private school. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed: the evidence supported a deviation “based on a parent’s financial ability to provide for private school education.”
Similarly, in Johnson v. Johnson, 358 Ga. App. 638 (2021), the father wanted the deviation as a credit because he had been paying the tuition. The trial court found the school contract was in the mother’s name and that she should pay it, so it raised his support instead, and the Court of Appeals agreed.
The Amount Cannot Be Arbitrary
In Nelson v. McKenzie, 364 Ga. App. 533 (2022), the child’s school cost $25,000 to $35,000 a year, and the trial court simply carried forward the father’s $1,500 monthly day care payment as a nonspecific deviation. The Court of Appeals reversed: using that deviation “to arbitrarily set Father’s contribution toward the child’s private-school costs” was error, though a court need not “require Father to pay for Mother’s choice of school, no matter the cost.”
Whatever amount is set goes on Schedule E with the written findings our post on required court findings for deviations describes.
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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!