Q. I just discovered that a teacher at my children’s middle school was charged with sexually abusing a child in another state about 12 years ago. I am unwilling to put my children through that possibility and asked my ex to agree to pay for them to attend private school. He refuses to contribute. He inherited a lot of money after our divorce but still pays the bare minimum for our kids while his new family live a much different standard, flying first class, driving expensive cars and living in a huge home.

I know he has the money to pay for private school for them and I cannot believe he would risk their safety by making them stay in public school.  Do you think a judge would order him to pay for private school?

A. In order to get a judge to order him to pay for private school, you would need to show a material change in circumstances.  Arguably, his large inheritance qualifies especially if he continues to pay the base child support established before his inheritance.  Presumably his inheritance is invested in some fashion which provides additional income to him, thus a review of the child support order is appropriate. I do not know if the additional child support would be enough to cover the cost of private school however, nor am I convinced a judge would deem your concerns about one particular middle school teacher to be sufficient to now require your ex to pay for private school.  But, you might be able to get your ex to voluntarily cover private school in lieu of your seeking higher child support and higher contributions to other things for your children.

If you cannot get him to agree to private school, there are other ways to approach the teacher issue.  You can check sex offender registries to determine if the teacher is listed.  If not listed, it may be that the charges did not stick. It could be a technicality, but it could also be the teacher was not guilty. Rather than pull your children out of school, disrupting their lives, you should get more information about the teacher to determine if your concerns are warranted and figure out other ways to safeguard them.  For example, take up your concerns with the school directly.

Then, of course, file for a modification to increase child support to proper levels based on your ex’s changed financial circumstances.

Email questions to whickey@brickjones.com