Can a parent’s estate be compelled to pay for a child’s college expenses?
Yes. It is very conceivable that a parent could die when a child is attending college or graduate school. Thereafter, the important question then arises whether the parent’s estate can be required to pay for a child’s college and related costs. These type of cases often turns into a nightmare. Quite often the children and the second wife of the deceased parent battle for the estate. The children earnestly believe that it is their birth right to use their inheritance to pay for college. Meanwhile, the widow is desperate to use the inheritance to live on. It is clear that a parent’s estate may be required to pay for a child’s college education. There are two major cases on this legal issue. In the case of Kiken v. Kiken, 149, N.J. 441 (1997), the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the trial court had the authority to order the father’s estate to contribution to the costs of his son’s college education. The father’s estate was bound to pay for college under the provisions of the divorce a
