State TEXAS
Per the divorce decree finalized in 1991 my husband pays for his son's college education 100%,which we are not trying to get out of, just would like to have input based on our financial ability. We have been informed by the xwife is having him apply to only upstate NY private schools. Since we are paying 100% what rights do we have? The xwife is demanding that as the custodial parent she is the only person that can choose the college and we will just have to figure out how to pay $40,000 per year for a small private school in NY.
Here is the wording from the decree "shall pay all costs of the college or university education of the child beyond secondary school, including but not limited to, tuition, fees, books, housing and meals, but for no more than 36 non consecutive months.....
We are not trying to get out of paying for his college, but we would like the right since we are paying 100% to have some input. Also we would like to have stipulations put in place regarding criteria that the child (turns 18 before graduation from high school) will have to maintain to have us pay for his college education. She refuses to discuss the matter and has no intentions of allowing us to make any decisions.
Below is a quote from another post and would like to have some feedback to my rights in TX – the quote is from a post in MI
My lawyer in MI has told me that if my daughter's father declines to pay his share of her college expenses (50%) this fall, as laid out in our divorce agreement that the courts in Washtenaw Co are very unlikely to make him pay his share. She also told me not to waste my money taking him to court, because the judge simply wouldn't order him to pay any of her college expenses.
She cited two reasons for not counting on having the divorce agreement enforced by the Court 1) the courts do not get involved when a kid is no longer a minor and has graduated from high school, and 2) we were divorced in 1992, contract law would not apply because the divorce agreement is too old to be considered a legally binding contract.
I also found this information when searching for answers, which conflicts with the above statement.
Parents can agree that child support is to continue into the college years, or that one parent will be solely responsible for college expenses, and they can include such agreement as part of a decree of divorce. Such an agreement is not enforceable by contempt, but can be enforced as a contract, by either the parent who should be receiving the support or by the child, if that child is over the age of 18.
Could someone please HELP.

