A Superior Court Judge in Camden on Monday declined to hold the parents of Caitlyn Ricci in contempt of court for not paying $16,000 toward their daughter's Temple University tuition.

Andrew Rochester, Caitlyn's attorney, had applied for a sanction of $100 against Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey for each day they failed to pay their court-ordered share of 21-year-old Caitlyn Ricci's $26,000 tuition.

Rochester said the $100 figure was mostly a suggestion, and that he had not sought specifically to hold Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey in contempt of court. Still, Rochester said, he was looking for some method of enforcing the original order from fall 2013.

"It's not the label that's important to me, it's the result. They've made it clear they have no intent to comply," Rochester said of Ricci and McGarvey. "What we want is for you to enforce the order."

Ricci and McGarvey, who did not appear in court on Monday, filed an appeal against the ruling last week. They had not previously paid up because they said their daughter had not presented evidence that she had applied for all available financial aid. Caitlyn would be responsible for paying about $9,000 if the decision is upheld.

"My client's position is not that her child isn't entitled to college education," said McGarvey's attorney, Robert Adinolfi. "It's that her child shouldn't dictate where she goes. What if she wants to go to Penn next? Or Cornell?"

Adinolfi, along with Ricci's attorney, Andrew Smith, both said there were several problems with the original order. The lawyers said that Judge Thomas Shusted's ruling from earlier this month went against several of the so-called "Newburgh factors" that are used to determine whether a set of divorced parents should have to pay for their child's college education.

Those factors, which take their name from the landmark 1982 case Newburgh vs. Arrigo, include communication between parties, the parents' ability to pay and whether or not the family would pay for school if the parents were still married. Together, they help courts decide whether or not to legally bind parents to pay for school.

Since Caitlyn and her parents have not seen each other in about two years outside of court and did not discuss her application to Temple, Adinolfi said the Newburgh factors had not been met.

"It's akin to just walking in and dropping off an invoice," Smith said.

Caitlyn and her parents have fought in court for more than a year over who should foot the bill for her college tuition. She lives with her paternal grandparents, who are paying her legal bills. The lawsuit has started a national conversation about what some people consider discrimination against divorced parents in New Jersey. Several court rulings in the state have held divorced parents accountable for paying their children's college tuition, while no such orders have been placed against married parents.

Judge Donald Stein said that he had not seen enough financial information to decide whether Ricci and McGarvey could feasibly pay for Temple University while raising other children in their current marriages. He would not, however, hold the two in contempt.

"I do not believe that any sanction is applicable in this case," said Stein. "Nor do I believe a finding of contempt is in order. They've filed an appeal. It doesn't appear that they've been sitting on their hands with this."

Stein said he had also not seen any correspondence from the university saying that Caitlyn would be kicked out of school for owing money.

"There's no immediacy here," said Stein.

Caitlyn has applied for student loans in the meantime, according to Rochester, but could not obtain them because she lacked a co-signer. She has transferred about 45 credits from community college to Temple, Rochester said, and works 30 hours a week.

Stein, who has previously upheld Shusted's two rulings in Caitlyn's favor, called the lawsuit one of the most difficult cases he had ever encountered.

"I've never seen a family torn apart the way this family is torn apart. It's a tragedy," he said. "Every hearing tears another wound."

The case will now be handled by an appeals court.

"We could look at it as if we won, but at the end of the day there's no winner," Ricci said Monday evening. "The relationship with my daughter is still strained."

Ricci added that he wanted his daughter to leave what he called the "toxic environment" fostered by his parents.

"It's disappointing," said Rochester outside of the Camden County Courthouse on Monday. "You'd like to come out every time with a win. Now we have three court orders that have turned into three pieces of paper. He didn't enforce it, but he also didn't reverse it. Now we put our faith in the appellate courts."

Andy Polhamus may be reached at apolhamus@southjerseymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ajpolhamus. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.