“You did mention a legal obligation to split the cost with the mother for college somehow, as part of the decree, and that could be reason for more litigation. Anything can be reason for litigation to the litigious, as you probably well know.”
Even if D1’s mother could change the wording to obligate us each to pay half of the non-loan costs, wherever D1 actually goes, she won’t sue for at least 2 reasons:
- She would have to pay it all herself first, up front, before she could should that there had been any harm to her. She would then have to sue to recover the difference from me. She doesn't have the money to pay up front, and she doesn't have the money for an attorney. It's not like custody/support where the system basically does your bidding and all the dirty work for free.
- She would be obligating herself to pay more than she has already committed to, and would not herself get any more money (the school would get it). She thus wouldn't sue because it could only make her bottom line bill worse.
The corollary, of course, is that I also have no legal leverage to force her to pay even as much as she has promised D1.
I assure you the litigation will dry up when she has to pay for it all out of pocket instead of being able to use the courts to squeeze her income (tax free) out of me.