McLeod v. Starnes
Supreme Court of South Carolina
723 S.E.2d 198 (S.C. 2012)
Kristi McLeod (plaintiff) and Robert Starnes (defendant) divorced after five years of marriage, with Kristi awarded custody of their two children and Robert paying weekly child support that grew alongside his salary (from roughly $32,000 to nearly $250,000). Robert voluntarily agreed to repay their son Collin's college loans upon graduation, but later refused to pay Collin's college expenses and sought to terminate various child-support obligations, arguing the college-expense requirement violated equal protection based on prior state precedent; the trial court agreed with Robert on that constitutional ground and dismissed Kristi's claim for Collin's college expenses, and Kristi appealed.
Whether a trial court may constitutionally require a divorced parent to pay for post-secondary education as an incident of child support.