Williams v. Williams

899 So. 2d 628, 2004 La.App. 4 Cir. 1624, 2005 La. App. LEXIS 1033, 2005 WL 896462
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 16, 2005
DocketNo. 2004-CA-1624
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 899 So. 2d 628 (Williams v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Williams, 899 So. 2d 628, 2004 La.App. 4 Cir. 1624, 2005 La. App. LEXIS 1033, 2005 WL 896462 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

JACHARLES R. JONES, Judge.

The Defendant/Appellant, Mr. Quince Williams, appeals a district court judgment which ordered him to pay a portion of his minor child’s private school tuition. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History:

Mr. Williams, and the Appellee, Lori Williams, were married on November 25, 1989, in New Orleans. They resided in Orleans Parish throughout the course of their marriage. One child, Christy, was born of this union on April 18,1988.

Based upon allegations of cruel treatment, Mrs. Williams filed a Petition for Divorce and Incidental Relief against Mr. Williams, on June 27, 2003. Since she had insufficient income to support both herself and Christy, Mrs. Williams requested, inter alia, interim spousal support and child support, along with use of the community home in her Petition. The parties were then ordered to attend marriage counseling, while all further proceedings were continued without date.

[630]*630A Motion to Reset was filed on August 29, 2003, and a hearing to determine custody and child support was set for September 18, 2003. An interim support [¡.award was entered on the record which awarded interim joint custody of Christy to both parents, domiciliary custody with Mrs. Williams, and interim visitation with Mr. Williams, along with an interim support award of $400 per month to Mrs. Williams.

A subsequent hearing concerning the rules of custody and support was had on December 16, 2003, at which time the matter was taken under advisement. A judgment was signed on December 18, 2003, which awarded joint custody of Christy to both parties, along with granting domiciliary custody to Mrs. Williams and reasonable visitation to Mr. Williams.

Initially, the judgment erroneously set forth that Christy’s school tuition was $692 per month; however, the judgment was later amended, on August 25, 2004. The amended judgment ordered Mr. Williams to pay $491 in child support, of which $364 was allocated for school tuition.

Mr. Williams filed a Petition for a Devol-utive Appeal of the judgment, as amended, by the August 25, 2004 judgment. Mr. Williams only seeks to reverse the part of the judgment which ordered him to pay a portion of Christy’s private school tuition.

Discussion

A trial court’s decision to add private school tuition expenses to the basic child support obligation will not be disturbed, unless it is an abuse of the trial court’s discretion. Kelly v. Kelly, 99-2478 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/22/00), 775 So.2d 1237, 1245, citing Valure v. Valure, 96-1684, p. 3 (La.App. 1st Cir.6/20/97), 696 So.2d 685, 687. Additionally,

13An abuse of discretion occurs if the court was arbitrary or capricious in its decision. Torrance v. Caddo Parish Police Jury, 119 So.2d 617, 619 (La.App. 2d Cir.1960). “Capricious” means the entry of judgment with no substantial evidence to support it or a conclusion contrary to substantiated competent evidence. Coliseum Square Assoc. v. New Orleans, 544 So.2d 351, 260[360] (La.1989). “Arbitrary” implies a disregard of evidence or the proper weight thereof. Id.

Juneau v. Strawmyer, 94-0903 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/15/94), 647 So.2d 1294.

La. R.S. 9:315.6, titled “Other extraordinary expenses; addition to basic obligation,” provides:

By agreement of the parties or order of the court, the following expenses incurred on behalf of the child may be added to the basic child support obligation:
(1) Expenses of tuition, registration, books, and supply fees required for attending a special or private elementary or secondary school to meet the needs of the child.
(2) Any expenses for transportation of the child from one party to the other.

The current version of La. R.S. 9:315.6 was amended and adopted, as amended, in 2001. Prior to its amendment, Paragraph (1) of La. R.S. 9:315.6 read: “any expenses for attending a special or private elementary or secondary school to meet the particular educational needs of the child.” However, as explained in the comments following the amended statute,

Prior to 2001, “any expenses” for attending a special or private elementary or secondary school to meet the “particular educational” needs of the child could be added to the basic child support obligation calculated using the guideline tables. Clarifying language was added to Paragraph (1) to specify the types of school expenses — tuition, registration, books and supply fees required for at[631]*631tending the. school-permitted to be 14added to the basic child support amount, but the necessity of showing that attendance at the special or private school was required to meet the “particular educational” needs of the child was eliminated. The needs of the child met by the special or private school need not be particular educational needs but may include such needs of the child as the need for stability or continuity in the child’s educational program. [emphasis added ]

Mr. Williams correctly points out in his brief that since the statute was amended, limited case law exists in this circuit concerning the application and interpretation of the amended statute. In a recent case from the Fifth Circuit, Schmidt v. Schmidt, 02-885 (La.App. 5 Cir. 1/14/03), 839 So.2d 150, a mother, who had domiciliary.1 custody of the minor child, filed a motion to amend a child support order to reflect her daughter’s attendance at a Catholic, rather than public school. The district court granted the mother’s motion and the father appealed. The Court of Appeal affirmed, and held that the district court acted within its discretion in finding that Catholic school attendance was in the best interest of the divorced couple’s five-year old daughter, who was enrolled in a school close to her home. The court concluded- that the. father did not meet his burden in proving that his daughter’s attendance at the Catholic school was not in her best interest, nor did |sthe father show that his preference of a public school was better or at least equal to the Catholic school.

Additionally, several cases prior to the amendment have also preserved child support payments in situations where the child was currently enrolled and had a history of enrollment in private schools.

In Corley v. Corley; 600 So.2d 908 (La. App. 4 Cir. 5/28/92), a husband appealed a district court judgment which ordered him to pay an increased child support award. This Court held, inter alia, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in including private school tuition and summer camp expenses where the parties had agreed for the children to attend private schools.

In Broussard v. Broussard, 95-1996, (La.App. 4 Cir. 3/27/96), 672 So.2d 1016, this Court affirmed a district court’s judgment which ordered a father to pay half of his children’s parochial school tuition based upon supporting evidence that the children had traditional parochial school educations and had attended parochial schools their entire lives, with the exception of one semester.

Other circuits have also upheld support awards to maintain the consistency of a private school education. In Kelly v. Kelly, 99-2478 (La.App. 1 Cir.

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899 So. 2d 628, 2004 La.App. 4 Cir. 1624, 2005 La. App. LEXIS 1033, 2005 WL 896462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-williams-lactapp-2005.