Teenager at Catholic school claims “abandonment,” sues parents to pay her college tuition

From USA TODAY: 

An honor student and athlete who claims her parents threw her out of their home when she turned 18 has taken the highly unusual step of suing them for immediate financial support and to force them to pay for her college education.

Rachel Canning, a cheerleader and lacrosse player at Morris Catholic High School who has aspirations to be a biomedical engineer, filed a lawsuit last week in the Family Part of state Superior Court in Morristown that seeks a judge’s declaration that she is nonemancipated and dependent as a student on her parents for support.

Judge Peter Bogaard, sitting in Morristown, has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday. Rachel Canning’s lawyer, Tanya N. Helfand, will ask that parents Sean and Elizabeth Canning, who haven’t paid an outstanding $5,306 Morris Catholic tuition bill, be ordered to settle that debt, pay Rachel’s current living and transportation expenses, and commit an existing college fund to their daughter, who has received acceptance letters from several universities and has to make a decision this spring.

Since the alleged “abandonment” by her parents, Rachel has been living in Rockaway Township with the family of her best friend and fellow student Jaime Inglesino, whose father is attorney and former Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino. Inglesino is funding the lawsuit and hired attorney Helfand, who included in the lawsuit a request that the parents pay their daughter’s legal fees that so far total $12,597.

Sean Canning, a retired Lincoln Park police chief who currently works as Mount Olive’s township administrator, said his daughter’s representation of the facts is not accurate and he fears she is being “enabled” by well-intentioned but ill-informed people who include the Inglesinos. Sean Canning said that Rachel voluntarily left home in October and was never thrown out.

“We love our child and miss her. This is terrible. It’s killing me and my wife. We have a child we want home. We’re not Draconian and now we’re getting hauled into court. She’s demanding that we pay her bills but she doesn’t want to live at home and she’s saying, ‘I don’t want to live under your rules,'” Sean Canning said.

The father said that he and his wife did stop paying the Morris Catholic tuition and have kept Rachel’s car because they paid for it. The father contended that Rachel moved out because she didn’t want to abide by simple household rules — be respectful, keep a curfew, return “borrowed” items to her two sisters, manage a few chores, and reconsider or end her relationship with a boyfriend the parents believe is a bad influence.

Read the rest.  

UPDATE:  A judge today has ruled in favor of the parents. Details: 

A New Jersey family court judge ruled today that Rachel Canning’s parents do not have to pay her high school tuition after she sued them to cover her schooling and living costs.

The judge delayed a ruling on whether the parents must pay the 18-year-old student’s college tuition while asking lawyers to consider whether it’s wise to “establish precedent where parents live in fear of establishing rules of the house?”

The judge also denied her request for attorney fees, although ruling that the parents should continue with weekly allowance and “child support” payments to their daughter.

The next hearing is scheduled for April 22.