Bullard v. Swafford

Summary

The Georgia Supreme Court held that a father’s child-support obligation continued under the parties’ court-approved agreement while their son remained enrolled in and attending high school full time after turning eighteen. The court ruled that periodic absences, tardiness, failure to attend summer school, and delayed graduation did not terminate the obligation, and it reversed the superior court’s contrary judgment.

Holdings

1. A domestic-support obligation not independently imposed under statutory authority may be enforced when the parties agree to it and the court approves and incorporates it into a court order, provided the agreement is specific, does not contravene a statute, and does not violate public policy. The agreement's full-time enrollment and attendance requirement was enforceable here.
2. A child's periodic absences and tardiness, even if significant and contributing to failure to graduate, do not by themselves terminate full-time enrollment or attendance when the child remains enrolled in school and has not dropped out, been suspended, expelled, or otherwise been disqualified from attending.
3. The requirement of continuous attendance during the normal school year does not mandate attendance in summer school absent language in the parties' agreement requiring it.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the incorporated child-support agreement required the child to maintain continuous, flawless attendance or attend summer school in order to qualify as enrolled in and attending secondary school on a full-time basis.
2. Whether the superior court properly applied Mattocks v. Matus and Hayward v. Lawrence to terminate the father's support obligation when the child remained enrolled as a full-time secondary-school student but had not graduated on schedule.
3. Whether the parties' agreed child-support provision was enforceable notwithstanding its full-time enrollment and attendance requirement.

Disposition

reversed