Opinion ID: 1834081
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Enforceability of Tuition Agreements

Text: Lane argues that this court has limited a trial court's ability to enforce a child's educational payments only through the age of twenty-two. He is correct that this court has upheld an educational trust designated to be paid until the beneficiaries reached the age of twenty-three. In Davis v. Davis, 268 N.W.2d 769, 778 (N.D.1978) (overruled on other grounds by Nelson v. Trinity Medical Ctr., 419 N.W.2d 886, 889 (N.D.1988)), we held that [this] require[ment of] payment toward a child's college education through age twenty-two was proper under Section 14-05-24, N.D.C.C. It would be an error, however, to read this to mean that such a trust, indeed any college payment, necessarily must expire on the beneficiaries' twenty-third birthday. We decline to set hard, fast age limits for support, but rather rely on the trial court's informed discretion to determine such matters.