When parents divorce, oftentimes the children are younger and possibly not even school age yet. They have not even thought about their child’s college support but in deciding to get married felt they wanted their child to attend post-secondary school. Now the marriage is unraveling and divorce is imminent. What to do about college expenses.

There is no set one way to come to terms of college support. Each state has their own way of dealing with college support and this “obligation”. If you want to make sure your child has a college education, this should be set out, in writing, as part of the divorce settlement/support obligation. If not, this support could possibly be lost.

It is best to discuss this issue with a lawyer or at the very least if both husband and wife are doing a pro se divorce, with each other and set forth specific details as to what is to be covered and what conditions should be placed on the child attending college. There are many different areas, including but not limited to the child’s attendance to classes enrolled in, living expenses, books, even doing laundry at school costs money. All the necessary expenses need to be addressed. Leave no stone un-turned in this area of support.

If you or your spouse are not employed, the court will often impute income to determine what support amount should be paid. Imputing income is no more that coming up with a monthly income amount that the court feels the parent is capable of earning.

The court will typically look to the past three years of pay stubs or W-2s to try to average an amount. The court will also take into consideration the current job market as well as any non-repetitive bonuses or lump sum payments made by employers in the past.

The bottom line is that in cases where income must be imputed, the likely hood of the support obligation actually being paid is very slim. Even though an amount is imputed, does not mean the money is there to provide the support. The efforts made by the court are in hopes the obligated spouse will gain employment in the near future and recognize his or her financial obligation to the children.