Father wrongly ordered to pay cost of private university

A trial court wrongly ordered a father to pay college costs for his daughter based on the cost of a private university, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

The appeals panel sent the order back to a Hamilton County court to calculate father’s educational support for his child who attends Butler University, the annual cost of which is about $49,000, according to the record in In re the Paternity of Makayla Lauren Pickett, Gregg Roberts v. Shonda Pickett, 29A02-1501-JP-9. Student Makayla Pickett’s actual first-year cost with scholarships, grants and aid is about $23,000. That amount would have been about $11,000 had she attended Ball State University, where she also had been accepted, Judge Terry Crone wrote for the court.

“(W)e conclude that the trial court’s decision to order Father to contribute to Child’s college expenses based on the cost of a private university rather than a public university is against the logic and effect of the circumstances before it,” Crone wrote for the panel. “Therefore, we remand with instructions to order that Father’s obligation toward Child’s college expenses be based on the costs of a public university.”

The trial court also erred in ordering father to pay college expenses the child incurred before mother filed a motion for him to pay those expenses.

The appeals court affirmed the trial court order that father pay $2,000 in mother’s attorney fees as a sanction for contempt. The panel found father waived the argument that the child repudiated him and he therefore should not be required to pay a portion of her college expenses.