Child support is due to children. But, children suing parents for child support in Maryland law is unheard of according to Annapolis, Maryland family law attorneys.
A rebellious New Jersey teenager sued her parents for child support of $650.00 per week, private school tuition, and future college expenses. According to the news reports, she would not obey her parents’ rules, and would not abide by their concerns about her boyfriend. The teenager left home and moved in with her friend’s family. While the child claimed verbal and physical abuse, the judge did not refer to that in his opinion.
The Judge said the teenager was “spoiled” and denied her request. He did schedule a later hearing on the request for college expenses. She was also seeking over $12,000 in legal fees which had been paid for by the adults where she was living.
While data is not collected on lawsuits like this, an informal poll of Annapolis, Maryland family law attorneys leads us to believe that this has not occurred in Annapolis, Maryland.
Note that in Maryland a parent cannot legally be required to pay for a child’s college expenses (unless there is a written agreement between the parents).
There is an instance when children can sue parents: in cases of physical or sexual abuse, a child has a cause of action against the abuser.
This “spoiled” child sounds rather like the affluenza defense which got a similarly indulged child off charges for killing four people drunk driving.
