Quick Facts about Educational Support Orders

1. July, 2002, Public Act 02-128, An Act Concerning Educational Support Orders, was signed into law in Connecticut.
2. The Court may require a parent to pay for any necessary educational expense at a college or vocational school, including room, board, dues, tuition, fees, registration and application costs.
3. Payments terminate at age 23.
4. The support order must be entered at the time of entry of a decree of dissolution, legal separation or annulment, and no educational support order may be entered thereafter unless the decree explicitly provides for a support order at a subsequent date.
5. While item #4 appears to protect parents who received their final decree before October 1, 2002, this could be changed at any time.
6. The law does not apply to intact families: They are not required to pay for college.
7. Note that divorcing parents must now fight over college education payments, even though those payments are often 10 to 17 years in the future.
8. Go to: Educational Support Orders for a full text of the law.
9. Go to: www.sharedparentinginc.org for more information about shared parenting.