CAMDEN, N.J. — A higher court will be handling the case of whether a divorced New Jersey couple must pay their daughter's college tuition even though they both disagree with where she's going to school.

A judge on Monday referred the case to a state appeals panel, saying "I've really never seen a family torn apart the way this family is torn apart."

Judge Donald Stein also ruled that Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey won't be held in contempt for their refusal to pay $16,000 they were previously ordered to put toward daughter Caitlyn Ricci's tuition this year at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Some New Jersey lawmakers are taking up the issue with a bill that would require divorced or unmarried parents be treated the same as married parents in cases like this.