holding courts cannot reimpose duty of child support on parent when an emancipated, adult child became disabled
How later courts described this case
- holding courts cannot reimpose duty of child support on parent when an emancipated, adult child became disabled
- "We have held the duty to support a child does not cease at majority if the child is mentally or physically disabled in any way at majority and needs support’’
- no obligation to support adult son who became quadriplegic in automobile accident
Written by the judges who cited it.
Distinguished
Distinguished by Warner v. Warner, 572 S.W.3d 6 (2019)
Towery , however, is distinguishable from the case before us.
The opinion
Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. The Chancellor reached a fair and equitable result in this case by ordering the father to pay $215 for the support of Timothy. In that fashion the $625 needed each month for Timothy’s maintenance through college was divided equally between the mother (whose income was $850 per month), the father (whose income was $1,932 per month) and Timothy, Timothy’s part coming from a social security check of $229 per month.
I can see no reason to override the Chancellor on the circumstances of this case, unless this court is adopting a rigid rule that any duty of support ends when a child reaches age eighteen. While we have said that ordinarily when a child comes of age the duty of a parent ends, we have stressed the fact that it is not an inflexible rule, but one that is dependent on the circumstances of the case. Matthews v. Matthews, 245 Ark. 1 , 430 S.W.2d 834 (1968).
In Matthews we upheld the Chancellor in ordering a father to continue supporting an adult daughter for some six months until she graduated from high school. We expressly recognized the importance of a high school diploma in obtaining work. If that was the right result on those facts, as clearly it was, of how much greater importance is a degree in accounting to Timothy Towery, a quadriplegic. Without a degree or some useful skill, his chances of ever providing for himself are virtually non-existent, whereas, the daughter in the Matthews case could certainly have found employment of some kind irrespective of a high school diploma. Thus, the circumstances of this case seem far more compelling than those in the Matthews case.
The majority opinion states that Timothy Towery had dropped out of college, but intended to return. If that statement implies that Timothy had dropped out of college before his accident, it is incorrect. After graduating from high school in May, 1981, Timothy attended Henderson State University in the fall of 1981 and the spring of 1982, prior to the accident in June, 1982. Emancipation is dependent on the circumstances of each case, (see 67A C. J.S., Parent and Child, § 5) and Timothy Towery had not become emanicipated in the sense that he had voluntarily ended his education and embarked on a chosen course in life, he was merely working during the summer to help pay for college, just as he had the previous summer. At the time of the accident he was barely nineteen years old, was living temporarily with his brother in Texas in order to work in an oil field. It is undisputed that he intended to return to college in the fall and was saving money for that purpose.
I believe the Chancellor’s order should be affirmed until Timothy finishes college or chooses some other course.