Recovering Tuition Expenses after a Divorce

A divorce can often be full of strife.  We hope, however, that they could end on at least somewhat civil terms.  Not surprisingly, there are a lot of considerations that spouses and courts may need to make when deciding the outcome of a divorce: child custody issues, community property, spousal support, and others.

One interesting wrinkle in Louisiana law on divorce can be found in Louisiana Civil Code article 121.  This article provides for a spouse to be reimbursed for expenses towards the other spouse’s schooling, if the marriage ended prior to the education being able to benefit the two spouses.  While Louisiana has community property, an education is generally not subject to this, with the exception of Code Article 121.

The best way to understand this article is by using a hypothetical example.  Let’s say we have two spouses, Mark and Mindy.  They are deeply in love and have been married for three years.  In their third year of marriage, Mark decides he is going to go to law school.  He and Mindy both believe that this will make their relationship better in the long run, and they agree to pay for it together.  While Mark is going to school, Mindy continues her job as a saleswoman.  Rather than putting off the tuition payments until after graduation, Mindy and Mark pay the tuition up front, every semester.  Three and half years later, the night after Mark passes the bar exam, he tells Mindy that he has met someone else and that he would like a divorce.

If Mark and Mindy go through with the divorce, Mindy is entitled to the money she helped pay for Mark’s law school tuition.  This is a classic example under article 121.  The reason is that, by paying his tuition to go to law school and ultimately to become an attorney, Mindy made a “financial contribution” to Mark’s “training or education” which allowed him greater “earning power.” 

Keep in mind that the other reason Mindy would probably qualify for this award is because she did not benefit during the marriage from her contributions.  If for example they did not divorce until five years after Mark became a lawyer, and Mark could show the court that the payments Mindy made towards his education were more than off-set by subsequent benefits he was able to confer upon her as the result of him being a lawyer, than Mindy’s chances at recovery of this amount would be lessened.

We also need to remember that this is only one consideration in the “big picture” of a community property regime.  That is to say, while Mindy may or may not be entitled to money paid towards Mark’s education, it is only one computation among presumably many others.  Mindy cannot separate her article 121 award from other community property considerations.

Will Beaumont has a law practice in New Orleans, La.  He has an additional office in Metairie, La.  Hopefully, this article is informative on Louisiana law, but it is simply information and should not be construed as legal advice.