Unlike many other state courts, Indiana courts can require a parent or parents to pay for at least a portion of their children’s post-secondary educational expenses. The expenses may include college or technical school tuition, room and board, books, travel expenses, and other living expenses. Pursuant to Indiana law, children and/or parents must file a petition with the court requesting these contributions before the child turns 19. If this request is not made to the court before the child turns 19, the child and the parents will lose their ability to seek such court ordered contributions.
This area of the law is still developing and there is no exact formula that the courts must follow in order to grant a petition for contribution to post-secondary education. Before July 2012, if the court granted such a petition, the courts’ presumptive ruling would order each party (mother, father and child) to contribute one-third (⅓) of the post-secondary educational expenses. Sometimes, the court would cap this total amount at the full cost of a child attending a major instate college like Indiana University or Purdue University.
The age of emancipation is one of the most misunderstood topics in Indiana child support law among parents. After children are emancipated, child support stops. When exactly does child support stop? Some believe that emancipation is triggered when a child turns 18 years old (which is common in many other states). Others believe emancipation is triggered when a child turns 19 years old (which is the current Indiana law), while some still assume that the age of emancipation is when a child turns 21 years old (which is the prior Indiana law).
