Lee v. Lee

In Lee v. Lee, (18 AD3d 508 [2d Dept 2005]), the Court faced a similar "college credit" offset against child support. The Court held: "it is not the defendant's overall child support obligation, which in this case encompasses his duty to support four children, that might properly be reduced on account of his payment of 'college expenses' on behalf of one or more of those children; rather, the 'college expenses' paid on behalf of one particular child, or on behalf of some particular children, could properly serve as a credit only with respect to so much of the defendant's overall child support obligation as relates to such particular child or children." (Id. at 512.) The Court also declined to read the "credit" language as including any expenses other than room and board: "in respect to any credit against child support that might be granted in connection with the defendant's payment of 'college expenses,' any such credit should be calculated based solely on those expenses that are associated with the cost of room and board, or on other similar expenses of the kind that 'child support' is normally intended to defray (see e.g. Wortman v. Wortman, 11 AD3d 604 [2004]). Such a credit should not be calculated based on the cost of college tuition, which is beyond the realm of what is normally considered 'child support.' Those cases in which, in one context or another, the courts have approved of the reduction of a parent's child support obligation based on that parent's payment of tuition expenses do not, in our view, reflect the general rule (see Comstock v. Comstock, 1 AD3d 307 [2003])." (Id.)