My brother just went through a nasty divorce, but escaped after a lengthy 18-month process. He has one son in college and another entering this fall, and after marital assets were divided, he is paying monthly alimony for the next few years. For the record, this is in New York State.
One of the provisions of the divorce is that his ex-wife must pay for a certain percentage of each child’s college costs (until they are 21). So far she has lived up to her end of the deal.
Her 17 year old son has amassed a nice amount in his savings account, which he intends on using for his college future costs. However, just before the divorce was finalized, she “attached” herself to this account, as she is allowed to do (until he turns 18). When she did this, my nephew has not contributed any additional savings to this account.
Our fear is that she will withdraw the funds from this account & use it as her contribution towards his schooling. Apart from the obvious issue of “stealing from her son”, is there any legal foothold that would prevent her from doing this?
If this did happen, could my nephew sue his mother for taking money without his permission? Obviously, this would cause a lot of grief and headaches, and we are only trying to do what is best for my nephew.