Randy’s parents have been happily married for 24 years. Randy is getting ready to go to college. His parents refuse to help him pay tuition or even give money to buy books. He thinks this is extremely unfair, because his friend Linda’s parents, who are divorced, are obligated to pay for her college expenses. Randy sues his parents to enforce support for college. What result?

Randy will lose because he is over age 18.
Randy will succeed, because under the Equal Protection Clause Randy should be treated equally as Linda; and the fact that her parents are divorced should not make a difference.
Randy will have to show he has no means of paying for tuition before the court will order his parents to pay for his expenses.
Randy’s parents are required to pay 50% of his college expenses.

Alex (age 15), George’s stepdaughter sues George for support. For the past four years (since the divorce from Alex’s mother) George has supported her and only recently abruptly stopped. Alex claims her natural father had stopped supporting her because George was paying. What result?

George is not required to continue paying Alex’s support because George is only a stepparent.
George will be estopped from asserting he does not have to make support payments and be forced to pay.
Alex will have to sue her natural father for support.
Both George and Alex’s natural father have a joint obligation to support her.

When is child support modifiable?

Never.
Only when one parent dies.
Whenever a parent wants a modification.
If there has been a substantial change of circumstances.

Mikey, a 12-year-old has made it big at Nickelodeon studies. He is earning more than both his divorced parents’ income combined. His father pays child support when Mikey is living his mother; the reverse is true when Mikey lives with his father during the summer. His parents bring an action against him wishing to terminate their child support obligations. What is Mikey entitled to?

Nothing, he earns too much and has thus emancipated himself.
He is entitled to support in accordance with the judge’s original orders.
He is entitled to support from the non-custodial parent.
He must contribute to his support along with his parents.

Sally and Jeremy were recently divorced. Jeremy was awarded primary custody of their daughter, Marcela. At the time of the support hearing, Jeremy was unemployed. Sally earned $75,000 per year; therefore, Sally was ordered to pay child support. Six months later, Jeremy inherits $1 million from a distant relative. Subsequently, Sally wants to have the support order terminated, given Jeremy’s financial windfall. What result?

Sally will be successful in terminating the support order.
The court will award custody to Sally and order Jeremy to pay child support.
Sally will be able to have the support order modified.
Jeremy’s improved circumstances will be taken into account, but it will not automatically eliminate Sally’s support obligation.

Zelda and Patrick were divorced two years ago. They have three children. Patrick had been paying his support obligations until six months ago. Now he is $5,000 in arrears. To avoid making additional payments, Patrick moved to Texas. The family home was in Connecticut. Since Patrick left the state, Zelda can no longer collect child support from him.

True
False