Court Opinion

ID: 9528260
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:38:54.69757+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:22:19.989982
License: Public Domain

SHARPNACK, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I respectfully concur in part and dissent in part. I agree that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by including certain expenses as educational expenses and that the trial court did not err by failing to specifically order Rincker to pay a portion of the education expenses. However, I disagree that the trial court abused its discretion by ordering Snow to pay a portion of Meghan's expenses at St. Louis University.
Snow argues that the cost of Meghan's college expenses at St. Louis University is beyond his ability to pay and that his contribution should have been capped at the cost of state-supported school. I disagree for two reasons. First, my review of the record reveals little about Snow's financial status except that Snow makes $41,700 and is not married. Snow presented no evidence of his expenses, tax burdens, or the poverty level and presented no factual basis for us to determine that the trial court's order is an abuse of discretion. Other than his assertions that the expense of Meghan's college is excessive, Snow has made no showing of an unaceeptable economic burden. Further, the trial court took Snow's ability to pay into consideration by ordering him to pay the graduate school expenses at the rate of $100.00 per week rather than in a lump sum.
Second, although the commentary to Ind. Child Support Guideline 6 provides that the trial court "may limit consideration of college expenses to the cost of state supported colleges and universities or otherwise may require that the income level of the family and the achievement level of the child be sufficient to justify the expense of private school," the commentary does not mandate that the trial court limit the expenses to the cost of state schools. Child.Supp. G. 6, commentary (emphasis added). While the limitation of college expenses to the cost of a state school may be reasonable in particular circumstances, see Million, 807 N.E.2d at 145, it is not a benchmark. Rather, the particular cireumstances of the case must be considered.
Here, Meghan is an exceptional student, and her particular course of study is offered only at a limited number of colleges in the United States. Further, Snow offered nothing regarding his financial status other than his gross income to establish what a burden Meghan's college expenses at St. Louis University might be. Thus, while limiting college expenses to the cost of a state school, as the trial court did in Million, may be an acceptable resolution in some cireumstances, I cannot conclude under the cireumstances presented in the record before us that the trial court abused its discretion by choosing to do otherwise. Consequently, I respectfully concur in part and dissent in part.