JOHN KOWALSKI, APPELLANT,
v.
BERTHA KOWALSKI, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Florida appellate court reversed the portion of a child support award extending beyond the child's eighteenth birthday, holding that absent parental agreement, courts lack authority to order support for a child over eighteen even if pursuing college education.
A court may not order child support beyond the child's eighteenth birthday absent an agreement by the father to that effect.
[1] Absent an agreement by the father, a court lacks statutory authority to order child support for a child beyond the age of eighteen, even if the child is pursuing college…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn a dissolution of marriage proceeding, the trial court awarded the father $60 per week child support for his son, who was seventeen and one-half yea…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Child Support Duration cases and more on FLexlaw
McNULTY, Chief Judge.
The appellant-husband, petitioner below in this dissolution of marriage proceeding, appeals from the monetary aspects of the final judgment of dissolution. He raises only one meritorious point on appeal, that relating to an award of child support in the sum of $60.00 per week for his son John, who was then seventeen and one half years of age, “until the child reaches the age of twenty-one (21) or completes or discontinues his college education, whichever shall first occur.”
While some of us may wonder why a father would expend the time, money and effort to complain to us because of an order compelling support of his son while the son attempts to secure a college education, we are nevertheless unaware of any authority in this state to enter such an order absent an agreement to that effect on the part of the father.1
In view whereof, the judgment of dissolution and all other aspects of the final judgment of dissolution should be and they are hereby affirmed; but to the extent the final judgment orders child support for and after the eighteenth birthday of the minor child of the parties hereto the same should be, and it is hereby, reversed.
Affirmed in part; reversed in part.
BOARDMAN and SCHEB, JJ., concur. . Cf. Perla v. Perla (Fla.1952), 58 So. 2d 689; White v. White (Fla.App. 1st, 1974), 296 So. 2d 619 and cases cited therein.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (12 total)
-
Blum v. Blum, 382 So. 2d 52 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)…the binding contractual undertaking to do so which is an indispensable precondition for such an order. E. g., Perla v. Perla, 58 So. 2d 689 (Fla.1952); Genoe v. Genoe, 373 So. 2d 940 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979), and cases [*56] cited; Kowalski v. Kowalski, 315 So. 2d 497 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975), cert, dismissed, 319 So. 2d 31 (Fla.1975). To summarize, those portions of the final judgment under review in Case no. 79-507 which dissolve the marriage, award child custody, declare the parties tenants in common as to the mari…
-
Grapin v. Bertram Grapin, 450 So. 2d 853 (Fla. 1984)…hild is in college and the divorced parent can afford to pay. See also Thomas v. Thomas, 427 So. 2d 259 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983); Jones v. Jones, 421 So. 2d 815 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); Dwyer v. Dwyer, 327 So. 2d 74 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); Kowalski v. Kowalski, 315 So. 2d 497 (Fla. 2d DCA), cert. dismissed, 319 So. 2d 31 (Fla.1975); Krogen v. Krogen, 320 So. 2d 483 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975). The second district took a contrary position in Nicolay. There the district court affirmed an increase in alimony based upon the wife’s n…
-
Kern v. Kern, 360 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978)…; Watterson v. Watterson, 353 So. 2d 1185 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977); Coalla v. Coalla, 330 So. 2d 802 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Dwyer v. Dwyer, 327 So. 2d 74 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); Kro [*485] gen v. Krogen, 320 So. 2d 483 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975); Kowalski v. Kowalski, 315 So. 2d 497 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975); Briggs v. Briggs, 312 So. 2d 762 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975); White v. White, 296 So. 2d 619 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974). . Example given, Golden v. Golden, 230 Ga. 867, 199 S.E. 2d 796 (1973); Jenkins v. Jenkins, 233 Ga. 902, 214 S.E. 2d 368 (…
Previewing 3 of 12 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Perla v. Perla, 58 So.2d 689 (Fla. 1952)
- Houston R. White v. White, 296 So. 2d 619 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)