## Facts

- Former spouses Ruth Hacker (plaintiff) and Seymour Hacker (defendant) entered a separation agreement incorporated into a judgment.
- The agreement required Seymour to pay child support for their daughter, Emily, until age 21.
- The agreement deferred termination beyond age 21 if, at 21, Emily was pursuing a “college education with reasonable diligence and on a continual basis,” but in all events terminated support on Emily’s 22nd birthday.
- After high school, Emily pursued performing-arts training and attended The Neighborhood Playhouse, a state-approved theater-training school that did not award academic degrees.
- During the period between Emily’s 21st and 22nd birthdays (approximately September 1984 through June 1985), Seymour paid Emily’s tuition but did not pay periodic child support to Ruth.
- Ruth sought contempt and related enforcement based on alleged child-support arrears for that period; Seymour argued no support was owed because Emily was not attending “college” as contemplated by the agreement.

## Issues

1. Whether Emily’s enrollment at a non-degree, state-approved theater-training school constituted pursuit of a “college education” under the separation agreement, extending support between her 21st and 22nd birthdays.
2. If the agreement did not require support for that period, whether Seymour’s nonpayment could support contempt and arrears relief.

## Decision

- The court held that Emily’s attendance at The Neighborhood Playhouse was not pursuit of a “college education” within the meaning of the separation agreement.
- Seymour therefore had no contractual obligation to pay child support during the disputed period between Emily’s 21st and 22nd birthdays.
- Because no support obligation existed for that period, Seymour’s nonpayment could not constitute willful disobedience of the judgment.
- The contempt application and arrears-related relief premised on support for the disputed period were denied to that extent.

## Legal Principles

- Separation agreements incorporated into judgments are construed under ordinary contract-interpretation principles.
- Absent contrary language or proof of a broader intended meaning, “college” or “college education” in a separation agreement is construed in its ordinary sense as referring to traditional, degree-granting collegiate programs.
- Post-secondary vocational or specialized training at non-degree institutions, even if state-approved and requiring a high-school diploma, does not automatically satisfy a “college education” condition extending child support.
- Contempt for nonpayment requires a clear, existing obligation; failure to pay amounts not required by the governing agreement cannot support contempt.

## Conclusion

The court interpreted the parties’ separation agreement to limit extended support to traditional college attendance and ruled that Emily’s non-degree theater-school enrollment did not qualify, eliminating the claimed arrears and defeating contempt based on that nonpayment.


Hacker v. Hacker, 522 N.Y.S.2d 768 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cnty. 1987)