The Superior Court reviewed the lower court’s order that added money to a husband’s child support obligation after he secretly withdrew money from his children’s 529 Accounts to pay for the legal fees related to his divorce. The couple divorced and entered into a marriage settlement agreement (MSA) that forbade them from withdrawing from that account. When the wife learned of the husband’s withdrawals, she petitioned the court to hold the husband in contempt and pay back the withdrawn funds as additional child support obligations. She asked for the award to be paid as additional child support to prevent the husband from defeating the award should he file for bankruptcy. To complicate matters, the husband’s withdrawals occurred before the MSA was finalized. The Superior Court agreed with the lower court that the husband violated the MSA because he did not mention the withdrawals and therefore did not make a full disclosure of his assets before finalizing the agreement. But the Superior Court held that the lower court did not have the power to convert the award into a child support obligation.
