Young New Jersey woman's suit over tuition goes to higher court

CAMDEN, N.J. -- A higher court will be handling the case of whether a divorced New Jersey couple must pay their daughter's college tuition even though they both disagree with where she's going to school.

A judge on Monday referred the case to a state appeals panel, saying, "I've really never seen a family torn apart the way this family is torn apart."

Judge Donald Stein also ruled that Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey won't be held in contempt for their refusal to pay $16,000 they were previously ordered to put toward daughter Caitlyn Ricci's tuition this year at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Some New Jersey lawmakers are taking up the issue with a bill that would require divorced or unmarried parents be treated the same as married parents in cases like this.

"What child does this? It's insane," said Ricci's mother, Maura McGarvey, last month.

"She comes from two loving families and she was given what she wanted when she was growing up," said her father, Michael Ricci.

Caitlyn's parents were young loves. Their marriage only lasted two and a half years but, the two say, they amicably parented their daughter. They describe their daughter as a typical rebellious teen.

"Instead of following our rules, she decided she is going to leave her mother's house, where she was living, and move in with her grandparents," Michael Ricci said.

And that's where the trouble started.

But her attorney, Andrew Rochester said Caitlin did "not voluntarily leave the home. She was thrown out by her mother."

And the relationship crumbled. "She hasn't contacted ... us on Mother's Day or Father's Day or on our birthdays," Michael Ricci said.

"I think she just wants money. She wants us to pay for her education. She feels this is owed to her," McGarvey said.

Caitlyn Ricci turned to attorney Rochester to represent her in the lawsuit. "Caitlyn really is a good girl. She is the nicest, sweetest girl. All she wants is to go to college," Rochester said.

And he paints a very different picture of the family's dynamic.

"They questioned her morality. They accused her of awful, awful things," Rochester said.

Caitlyn's parents joined together and filed a motion to emancipate their estranged adult daughter but on the Friday before Mother's Day, Maura said the court papers arrived - she was suing them.

"Did I ever expect my daughter to sue me? No, of course not. It's heart breaking," McGarvey said.

A judge, turning to a New Jersey legal precedent known as 'Newburgh' that said divorced parents may be required to contribute to their children's education, no matter their age.

The judge ruled in Caitlyn's case that her parents have to pay $16,000 this year.

"The law in New Jersey is so clear. It is cut and dry. The law says parents are supposed to contribute to their children's post-secondary expenses," Rochester said.

Her parents said they were willing to pay for her education in-state, if she followed rules and lived at home.

"It is just unbelievable. I don't think there is any person there is not one adult or parent who can imagine that this can happen to them," McGarvey said.

However Caitlyn, who they said won't reply to their messages, applied to Temple University out of state and the only time they have seen her in the last two years is in a courtroom.

"I spend a lot of time looking at her, looking over trying to get eye contact and she won't look. All you want to do is grab her and shake her and look at her and tell her you love her and tell her we can work this out," McGarvey said.

This semester's bill for Temple was due Wednesday. Caitlyn's parents said they aren't paying a dime until their daughter re-establishes a relationship with them, and they plan to appeal the judge's decision.

Her paternal grandparents, who she is living with, hired her attorney to sue their son.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Maura Ricci's blog "The Age of Entitlement"