VDH Attorney Obtains Significant Appeals Court Ruling on Status of ROTC Student for Child Support

In what appears to be the first reported decision by an appellate court in the country, on October 18, 2018 the Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that a student did not “enter the military” or, therefore, become emancipated for purposes of  child support when he obtained an Army ROTC scholarship. VDH attorney John Foskett represented the mother in Bobblis v. Costa, 94  Mass.App.Ct. 264 (2018). Attorney Foskett successfully argued that applicable federal statutes and the fact that a ROTC scholarship recipient remains a full time student at his or her college without governmental control over the student’s daily activities differentiate the student’s status from that of an enlistee or of a cadet/midshipman at one of the military academies. The court therefore rejected the father’s claim for retroactive reimbursement of child support payments.