High school senior suing parents for college tuition
Peggy Wright, The (Morristown, N.J.) Daily Record
Mar 3, 2014
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In a study on Millennials released this week by the Harvard Institute of Politics, many young Americans seem to think colleges and universities are most responsible for rising student loan debt
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — An honor student and athlete who claims her parents threw her out of their home when she turned 18 has taken the highly unusual step of suing them for immediate financial support and to force them to pay for her college education.
Rachel Canning, a cheerleader and lacrosse player at Morris Catholic High School who has aspirations to be a biomedical engineer, filed a lawsuit last week in the Family Part of state Superior Court in Morristown that seeks a judge's declaration that she is nonemancipated and dependent as a student on her parents for support.
Judge Peter Bogaard, sitting in Morristown, has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday. Rachel Canning's lawyer, Tanya N. Helfand, will ask that parents Sean and Elizabeth Canning, who haven't paid an outstanding $5,306 Morris Catholic tuition bill, be ordered to settle that debt, pay Rachel's current living and transportation expenses, and commit an existing college fund to their daughter, who has received acceptance letters from several universities and has to make a decision this spring.
Since the alleged "abandonment" by her parents, Rachel has been living in Rockaway Township with the family of her best friend and fellow student Jaime Inglesino, whose father is attorney and former Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino. Inglesino is funding the lawsuit and hired attorney Helfand, who included in the lawsuit a request that the parents pay their daughter's legal fees that so far total $12,597.
Sean Canning, a retired Lincoln Park police chief who currently works as Mount Olive's township administrator, said his daughter's representation of the facts is not accurate and he fears she is being "enabled" by well-intentioned but ill-informed people who include the Inglesinos. Sean Canning said that Rachel voluntarily left home in October and was never thrown out.
"We love our child and miss her. This is terrible. It's killing me and my wife. We have a child we want home. We're not Draconian and now we're getting hauled into court. She's demanding that we pay her bills but she doesn't want to live at home and she's saying, 'I don't want to live under your rules,'" Sean Canning said.
The father said that he and his wife did stop paying the Morris Catholic tuition and have kept Rachel's car because they paid for it. The father contended that Rachel moved out because she didn't want to abide by simple household rules — be respectful, keep a curfew, return "borrowed" items to her two sisters, manage a few chores, and reconsider or end her relationship with a boyfriend the parents believe is a bad influence.
"We're heartbroken, but what do you do when a child says 'I don't want your rules but I want everything under the sun and you to pay for it?'" Canning said, adding that his daughter's college fund is available to her and not withdrawn or re-allocated, as she has alleged.
In New Jersey, emancipation of a child "is a fact-sensitive analysis that looks at whether the child has moved beyond the sphere of influence and responsibility exercised by a parent and has obtained an independent status of his or her own," Helfand said in court papers.
The mere fact that a child has turned 18 is not an automatic reason to stop financial support, according to Helfand and several longtime family attorneys in Morris County. A key court decision in the state specifies that, "A child's admittance and attendance at college will overcome the rebuttable presumption that a child may be emancipated at age 18."
Prominent family-law attorneys Sheldon Simon and William Laufer both called the lawsuit highly unusual and Laufer said he has seen nothing like it in 40 years of practice.
"A child is not emancipated until they're on their own," Simon said. "Even if a child and the parents don't get along, that doesn't relieve the parents of their responsibility." Laufer noted that under New Jersey law, a child can still be declared nonemancipated even if there is a hiatus between high school graduation and college.
Rachel Canning filed a certification with the court that contends her parents jointly decided on Oct. 29, 2013, that as of Nov. 1 — her 18th birthday — she would be cut off "from all support both financially and emotionally." She said in her papers that Morris Catholic advised her not to return home and contacted the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency (known as DCP&P and formerly as DYFS) after Rachel alleged abuse.
"My parents have rationalized their actions by blaming me for not following their rules," Rachel said in her court papers. "They stopped paying my high school tuition to punish the school and me and have redirected my college fund, indicating their refusal to afford me an education as a punishment."
The court record includes a letter from Morris Catholic English instructor and campus minister Kathleen Smith, who wrote that she was a witness to a rough encounter between Rachel and her mother in mid-October 2013 and heard Elizabeth Canning call her daughter a foul name and say she didn't want to speak to her daughter again.
Sean Canning said that a DCP&P representative visited his home for about three hours last fall, found nothing amiss, determined that Rachel was "spoiled" and discontinued the investigation. He said that he and his wife are beside themselves that discord with their daughter has reached this level.
Attorney Laurie Rush-Masuret, who represents the parents, said in court papers that Rachel emancipated herself and removed herself from her parent's "sphere of influence" by voluntarily moving out of their house "as she did not want to abide by her parents' rules...."
Rush-Masuret and Sean Canning said that Rachel was seeing a therapist long before moving out and is supposed to take medication. The parents contend she had disciplinary problems at school last term, was suspended twice, ignored her curfew at home and bullied her younger sister.
According to letters included with the lawsuit, Rachel has been accepted at the University of Vermont, William Paterson University, Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., and has applications pending to other institutions. She has been offered scholarships — including $20,000 a year to study at Wells — but also would be reliant on the college fund established by her parents and other financial aid and grants.
WEDNESDAY MARCH 12, 2014 05:15 PM EDT
N.J. Teen Who Sued Parents Moves Back Home After Court Drama
Rachel Canning
CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS/LANDOV
BY JEFF TRUESDELL
After moving out and filing a lawsuit that claimed her parents cut off her school tuition and financial support in part because she refused to break up with her boyfriend, New Jersey teen Rachel Canning has reunited with her family, according to an attorney for the parents.
"Her return home is not contingent on any financial and/or other considerations," says a statement released Wednesday by Angelo Sarno, who is representing parents Sean and Elizabeth Canning, of Lincoln Park.
Meeting with the media, Sarno said that "as far as my clients are concerned, it's over, it's done," reported the Daily Record. "This is a private matter. It should never have been brought to the court's attention. It should have never been brought to the public."
He said the purpose of the announcement was only to say that Rachel is home, and Sarno would not comment further about the case, including Rachel's pending request in court for her parents to cover her future college tuition.
"This is a long process," he said. "It's only the beginning."
Rachel, 18, turned heads – but failed to convince a judge, who ruled against her – when she went to court seeking living expenses and tuition for her final semester at the private Morris Catholic High School. Very quickly, the cheerleader and honors student drew the ire of social-media users who derided her as spoiled and entitled.
"I have been subjected to severe verbal and physical abuse by my mother and father," Canning alleged in court documents. "I am not willingly and voluntarily leaving a reasonable situation at home to make my own decisions. I had to leave to end the abuse."
Disciplinary Action
Such allegations were "unfounded," according to an investigation by the state's Division of Child Protection and Permanency. Her parents responded in their own court filings that Rachel fled the family home when she was disciplined after being suspended from school for truancy. They reportedly also took away her car and phone, and told her to quit seeing her boyfriend.
"[Rachel] took it upon herself to run away so that she could live her life without any parental supervision and without any rules," mom Elizabeth stated in court documents.
Rachel's court papers claimed: "They stopped paying my high school tuition to punish the school and me, and have redirected my college fund indicating their refusal to afford me an education."
College Tuition
Although Circuit Judge Peter Bogaard denied Rachel's initial request, he postponed until April a decision on Rachel's request to force her parents to cover her college tuition.
In an earlier statement, the parents' attorney, Sarno, said: "The case is without any legal merit ... Government cannot police the day-to-day financial affairs of parents and their children while the family is intact. The case must be resolved quickly between the parents and child, preferably without involvement of the Court and/or legal counsel."
"It is the goal of the Cannings to be present at their child's graduations, her wedding and at the birth of their grandchildren," he added. "Obviously, they are heartbroken by all that has transpired."
I saw this and posted, but I became so interested and kept digging. That's
That's when I realized it was an older article and a judge denied the teen's request.
I am very disappointed that this case even went before a judge. What a ridiculous waste of money and time.
What a joke. I should have sued my parents for college tuition. Wait a minute, they did not have the proverbial pot to p--- in, let alone a window to throw it out of. Why is everyone so entitled these days??
At some point you either become an ADULT or you don't. When you are an ADULT, then you and you alone are completely responsible for yourself. This is getting ridiculous. And, if your parents can't or won't pay for college, then get 2 jobs, a loan and/or join the military or work a couple of years living on beans and rice and save your money. Wow.
What a joke. I should have sued my parents for college tuition. Wait a minute, they did not have the proverbial pot to p--- in, let alone a window to throw it out of. Why is everyone so entitled these days??
Because you can't teach them the realities of life or you might hurt their wittle feelings, or worse, damage their fragile self esteem.
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