18-year-old sues parents to force payment of tuition fees

A New Jersey student who says her parents abandoned her when she turned 18, lost the first round in the lawsuit she filed against them for school costs and living expenses, a case that could set a precedent for a family’s obligation to support a child who has left home.

A family court judge denied a request by Rachel Canning, 18, of Lincoln Park, New Jersey, to have her parents temporarily resume paying her tuition and living expenses. He set another hearing date for next month.

Canning wants her parents to pay the remaining $5,000 (€3,640) in tuition fees owed to the Morris Catholic High School, where she is a senior, and wants access to a college fund that was set up for her.

The cheerleader and lacrosse player claims her parents kicked her out of the house in November 2013 after she turned 18.

She wound up living with a friend’s family, she said, and the upheaval has jeopardised her educational future.

Judge Peter Bogaard rejected her request for a temporary payout of about $600 a month in support as well as tuition for her private school, which has waived fees while the case is settled.

In court, the teenager said her parents remain obligated to help her with food, transportation, high school tuition, and her college education.

She filed the lawsuit last week claiming that she is still dependent on them for support because she is still in school and not yet legally emancipated under state law.

“They left her high and dry because they didn’t want to pay,” lawyer Tanya Helfand told the court. “Now at the age of 18 is not the point to do this.”

Her parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning, said their daughter left home voluntarily. They said she had behavioural problems, including underage drinking, and that she had been suspended from school.

In court papers, they said she did not want to follow the rules of the house that included doing chores and adhering to a curfew.

In New Jersey, emancipation is not contingent on becoming a legal adult at age 18 but instead requires a young person to obtain “an independent status on his or her own” — such as graduation from college, obtainment of work or marriage.

Family law experts in New Jersey say Canning’s case might set legal parameters on whether non-divorced parents in the state are obligated to pay for their children’s college education and provide other financial support after the child has left home.

New Jersey is one of several states that require divorced parents to pay for their children’s education through college, or legal emancipation, William Laufer, a family law expert in New Jersey said. So far, there is no parallel decision for intact families.

“This case is certainly unique,” Laufer said. “The question is, a kid at the age of 18 says he or she is moving out of the house — do parents have a legal obligation to support their kids until emancipation?”

An attorney for Canning’s parents said in court that she was welcome to return home and under the financial care of her parents, should she abide by house rules. “She can come home tonight. There is no abuse. There is no neglect,” lawyer Laurie Rush-Masuret said.

Sean Canning, a former police chief in Lincoln Park, told local television station WCBS-TV he was “dumbfounded” that he was being sued by one of his three daughters. He called Rachel “rebellious” and said her college fund was not in jeopardy.

“We have a college that’s available to her — there’s no doubt about that. But it’s the equivalent... of going shopping at a high-end store and sending somebody the bill,” he said.