Student Sues Parents for College Aid

[Shol'va]

^ wow!

Morristown Superior Court Judge Peter Bogaard appears to have agreed with an independent investigators' assessment of the home atmosphere: that the high school cheerleader and lacrosse player is "spoiled."

Alright then. As usual the truth is not as one sided as it may seem.
The comments to the article are a good read as well ;)

It looks to me like the girl has had her chance in court and failed to present a compelling case.
Therefore, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I am going to say that the picture that the parents are presenting is indeed an accurate one, until evidence to the contrary. And the judge seems to agree with me.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

^ wow!

Morristown Superior Court Judge Peter Bogaard appears to have agreed with an independent investigators' assessment of the home atmosphere: that the high school cheerleader and lacrosse player is "spoiled."

Alright then. As usual the truth is not as one sided as it may seem.
The comments to the article are a good read as well ;)

Consider the source here is NYDN...about as reliable as the label on a tampon box usually.  [-X Actually tampon boxes don't usually support one agenda or another..

[Shol'va]

If that makes you skeptical, then let's look at this news from other sources. I'm trying to find the court ruling.

Here is a much better detailed article
http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2014 ... rents.html

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Personally I don't really care.. My kids are all grown and I raised them so the whole argument is mute to me.  :-$

[Shol'va]

The only thing I have a problem with in general is the sense of entitlement. If everything the parents are saying is true, then I am inclined to agree with them. I'm not sure I would have taken the same measures, but it looks to me like an intervention of some sort was necessary. It is the classic example of the girl wanting the best of  both worlds: live as an independent adult on her family's income.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I don't blame her. She's a kid, not some sort of monster. The parents are within their rights, but seem a tad selfish too, but remember, they raised her to be who she is. I'll just split the baby in half..

[Shol'va]

I'm gonna cite the article, what the hell :) ... and bold some relevant parts.

A Superior Court judge today refused to order a Lincoln Park couple to pay private school and college tuition for their 18-year-old daughter who moved out of their house and is suing for financial support.

"Do we want to establish a precedent where parents live in basic fear of establishing rules of the house?" Family Division Judge Peter Bogaard asked.

Rachel Canning, a senior at Morris Catholic High School, went to court to force her parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning, to pay her child support, private school tuition, medical and related bills, college expenses and legal fees. Canning is an honor student and an athlete, but her parents have stopped paying her bills because she would not obey their rules.

Bogaard refused to issue the requested emergency order, which would have awarded the teen more than $600 a week.

Bogaard said no emergency exists because Morris Catholic has said Canning may continue attending the school despite her tuition not being paid, and because the final deadline of May 1 has not yet arrived for college applications.

Allowing the emergency order "would represent essentially a new law or a new way of interpreting an existing law," Bogaard said. "A kid could move out and then sue for an XBox, an iPhone or a 60-inch television."

The judge's decision followed a more than two-hour hearing in Morristown during which attorneys pressed their arguments. Parents and daughter sat on opposite sides of the courtroom, rarely exchanging glances. Both sides appeared tense and sad.

Bogaard scheduled another hearing for April 22. The case may be headed for trial on the key issue of whether Rachel Canning was "emancipated" from her parents when she defied their order to break up with her boyfriend and moved out of their house.

Rachel remains "unemancipated," or dependent on her parents, because she needs their support to complete her education at Morris Catholic and to pay for the college education for which she has been preparing, her attorney, Tanya Helfand, argued.

Helfand is focusing on getting financial information from the parents that will show they have the ability to pay for their daughter, but are avoiding those responsibilities.

At today's hearing, Bogaard said, Canning's parents were required to produce information about their incomes, including their 2011 and 2012 income tax returns and their last three pay stubs. That information is to remain private.

"Normal, healthy people want to help their children," Helfand said. "The Cannings simply don't want to pay. They want to strip their daughter of her opportunities."

She said Canning's parents treated her in an "abnormal" way that made it "untenable" for her to stay in the house.

For instance, Helfand said, Sean Canning would not allow his daughter to have a
boyfriend while a senior in high school, which she said is not "normal."

The parents' attorney, Laurie Rush-Masuret, countered that Rachel could easily have stayed at the house, which she said had "a loving, nurturing environment. She clearly could have come home to her nice house and her new car."

"She voluntarily decided to leave because she didn't like the rules they were imposing," Rush-Masuret said, and that makes her "emancipated."

If Rachel were granted her emergency order, "Other young women will say to their parents, 'I'm going to live with my boyfriend, no matter what you say, but you'll still have to pay for my college,'" Rush-Masuret said.

The parents have no obligation to pay for their daughter's private school tuition or child support, Rush-Masuret said. She added that the parents don't want to pay for Rachel's college tuition because they weren't consulted about the applications.

However, she added, the parents will continue to pay for their daughter's health insurance and said she is also entitled to money held in a college fund, which would pay part of her expenses.

Documents submitted by Rachel Canning and her attorney said she has been admitted to several colleges, and "deadlines to accept are imminent." The parents have income in the $250,000 to $300,000 range, yet refuse to pay, according to the papers.

A key problem, Helfand said, is that Rachel has been unable to fill out the FAFSA federal student aid form because her parents have not provided financial information.

Sean Canning is a retired chief of police in Lincoln Park and current business administrator for the Township of Mount Olive, while the mother is a legal secretary at McElroy, Deutsch, according to the papers.

Rachel said in court papers that she has been living for the past four months at the home of her best friend, the daughter of prominent Morris County attorney John Inglesino, who has "advanced" her legal fees.

Much of the hearing focused on the behavior of Rachel, her parents and her boyfriend, with frequent disagreement over facts.

Rachel and her boyfriend both had two-day suspensions from school, and Bogaard said he thought it had resulted from Rachel's "vulgar postings" on social media related to her parents.

Helfand disagreed, saying the punishment was because Rachel had "tweeted" about people causing her problems at school unrelated to her parents, and because she and her boyfriend both skipped classes one day so she could help him with his college applications.

Bogaard cited a vulgar voice mail left by Rachel for her mother. "Have you ever seen a child show such gross disrespect for a parent?" he asked. "Is there a point at which a parent can say they don't have to pay for college?"

The judge also cited certifications submitted by the Canning parents about their daughter's alleged history of staying out and drinking during the week. Once, he said, she was driven home by her boyfriend's parents at 3 a.m. Rachel was removed from her position as captain of the cheerleaders and from the campus ministry, Bogaard said.

"What kind of parents would the Cannings be if they did not discipline her?" he asked. "The Cannings had to right to set up rules."

Helfand countered, "I don't think what the Cannings are saying is true. They simply want to point their finger at Rachel and say 'she is a bad girl because she didn't do anything we wanted.' They paint the most disgusting picture of their daughter in these certifications."

The judge replied that "a day or two for a hearing" might determine the truth of the matter.

Helfand also accused the parents of "neglect" for going to Las Vegas for five days during Homecoming, when Rachel was a member of the court and was also responsible for her two younger siblings.

Bogaard countered that "neglect" was a too strong a term, pointing out that several neighbors were checking on the children regularly.

Bogaard also disagreed with Helfand's contention that Rachel was "thrown out on her 18th birthday." Rachel was "not thrown out," but was "constructively abandoned" by her parents, Bogaard said.

Despite the apparently wide gap between Rachel and her parents, Bogaard held out hope for a possible reconciliation.

He read a letter Rachel sent to her parents in October, the month that she left the house.

"Hey guys, I want to apologize for my actions," Rachel said. "I really need to realize there are consequences for the things that I do. I am trying to change. I do miss you guys. I am trying to turn over a new leaf."

Bogaard commented, "This family is well worth the effort to salvage. It does appear more energy has been utilized to tear up this family than to figure out how it can be brought back together."

[AllPurposeAtheist]

WTF? A good CATHOLIC girl who DRINKS and probably FUCKS her boyfriend? Oh, I just can't believe it. Good catholic girls never do these things. Just look at her angelic face. How could anyone even think of getting drunk with her to get naked? If that's not the most honest, wholesome looking girl on the planet then John Boehner doesn't have a fake tan.  8-)

[Hijiri Byakuren]

WTF? A good CATHOLIC girl who DRINKS and probably FUCKS her boyfriend? Oh, I just can't believe it. Good catholic girls never do these things. Just look at her angelic face. How could anyone even think of getting drunk with her to get naked? If that's not the most honest, wholesome looking girl on the planet then John Boehner doesn't have a fake tan.  8-)
[ Image ]

People who look similar to her have been cast as villains too often for me to think that smile has good intentions behind it.

[Youssuf Ramadan]

As far as I'm concerned, she is an adult and has the responsibilities that come with it.  However, I suspect that she will be able to claim something from her parents, given that parents are required to support offspring at college if they are above a certain financial threshold, even if it's a small amount.  That's the way is works here in Britain, anyway.

Uhh.... since when?  Last time I checked you pay your own uni fees out of a loan in your own name.

I haven't checked that recently, as my degree was some time ago, but one of my work colleagues who has split with the mother of his children is obliged to pay some monthly amount towards his daughters' upkeep if they go to college, whereas he isn't obliged to if they don't.  I don't have kids of my own so I'm only going on what I'm told.  Given that the daughter in the OP is apart from the parents, I thought maybe the same things may apply.  But this is a different country, so maybe not...

But yes, the majority of the funding in Britain would certainly come from loans or the occasional bursary, if it is available.

[darsenfeld]

Meh, they clothed her, gave her food, and this his how she repays them by suing them... haha!!

My, if they abused her, fine, but IMHO that's not abuse.  She deserves being thrown into a mental institution....

[stromboli]

I don't want to be judgmental, but she comes across as selfish, self centered and spoiled. And she obviously feels entitled. Don't think she makes a sympathetic plaintiff.

[SGOS]

I don't want to be judgmental, but she comes across as selfish, self centered and spoiled. And she obviously feels entitled. Don't think she makes a sympathetic plaintiff.

From the judge's comments, I kind of picked up that he felt a little of that too.  However, from what this thread has generated as far as understanding New Jersey law, I'm wondering if this first judge's opinion will count for anything.

The news coverage does point out that this case is unprecedented, however.  That may create greater room for considering the circumstances along with written law.  I can imagine one possible equitable solution, and there may be better ones.  The court could order her to return home and follow house rules that could be negotiated with the help of an impartial third partly, like social services.  That way the court could have some confidence that neither side is being unreasonable.  Her financial support could be contingent on that.  If she makes a reasonable attempt to comply, her parents would support her as they normally would have.  If she leaves home on her own again (otherwise known as running away, which frequently does happen), she must accept the responsibility for her own financial affairs (which is what usually happens).  If she follows the agreed rules and the parent's kick her out, the parents must still accept responsibility for her finances.

I have lots of friends who moved out of their parents homes when they were 18.  They just got apartments, usually in the same town.  It struck me as odd, but they wanted more independence and privacy.  Neither their parents or my friends made a big deal out of it.  There was no animosity involved, and my friends supported themselves adequately.  One of them even drove a Corvette.  It's not like letting an incompetent 18 year old loose in the jungle without a knife.

[Shol'va]

Growing up (not in the US), my dad had a successful business. I washed his cars and did other choirs around he house and helped him with various things for allowance money. He taught me one of the very important life lessons a parent can impress upon their children. Although they could have paid for my college tuition, I already had an income at that time and was able to do so on my own, by my own choosing. I worked days and went to college at night. I can attribute my current financial stability to my dad.

I'm a very easy going guy, but there are things that agravate me, and one of those things is the sense of entitlement. If my kid sued me on the basis of access to my financial success, trust me when I say we would be in court for an entirely different reason, and that would be battery and assault charges laid upon me.

[stromboli]

I put myself through college with G.I. bill and working variously 1 or 2 jobs. It took me 6 years to get my bachelor's degree, when the G.I. bill ran out and I had a family. I ended up finishing at night school while working full time at Hill AFB. They mailed me my diploma.

So needless to day I don't have a lot of sympathy. She does act like she's entitled, and that I don't agree with.