He would need to have it written into the CO that he is no longer responsible for 1/2 of college.  My DH had it originally written in his divorce decree that he would have to pay CS until Spawn graduated college and he was responsible for paying for college.  We are in CA and CS only goes to 18.  When we got custody and a new CO was written thankfully all of that verbiage got removed.   Your DH would be smart to get the verbiage removed....but I foresee a judge taking issue with that.  

The court does take into account the relationship between parent and child, the income capacity of both parents, the earning capacity of the “child”, other dependants the parents need to support. In the case of estrangement they also consider steps taken by parties to reconcile. At the end of the day who knows what the ruling will be. He may need to pay a portion of the college fees. But SS will need to achieve a certain score for payment to continue yearly and I will be surprised if the split would be 50/50. 

There's a good chance the court won't care. Visitstion, relationships, and finical responsibility are complete different factors. Just like he can't refuse to pay child support or a medical bill he won't be let out of college just because the kids attitude.

Court here didn't care one iota that SS hadn't spoken to DH for 3 years prior to BM dragging him into court. They ordered him to pay for half of college expenses.

I will say, though - DH never took BM back to court after SS stopped coming over, it was all before that - so they kept saying there was no record of him looking to the court to help with the lack of relationship. In your case, that's different.  And it seems very different based on what state you are in.

Maybe his attorney should offer to BM that he will drop the contempt petition and not file any more in court if she agrees to take college expenses out of the CO.

exploring constructive emancipation by conduct.

If you have another hearing bring it all up. Well maybe not in the same conversation

I would fight it. I have read about cases in which alienation and the child not wanting a relationship with the parent DID come into consideration when it came to paying for college and CS through college.

My ex had a very vague sentence in his original divoce agreement that said the parents should pay equitable amounts for higher education. He rarely saw his sons back then and wasn't even invited to thier high school grad parties. His 3 sons (really thier mom) took him to court when they were in thier junior and freshman (twins) years of college.  All three had partial scholarships.  The court ordered BM to pay nothing and my ex had to pay almost $10,000 a year (retroactively for the oldest) even though that was more than the kids were currently paying.  It was crushing.  The court systems are so crazy.  This was in Illinois hopefully your state is better.  Good luck to you!

Thank god nothing is in mine or DHs.

Skids can get student loans or not go...I can promise that another dime won't come out of my household for supporting kids once they leave high school. My DH will find himself divorced again if he even dares.

Would DH have a shot in front of a judge, showing him all the F- you texts,  the no show visits, the utter refusal for a relationship to have it all dismissed?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

 I don't know but I would hope so.  I usually feel sorry for some skids.  But not yours.  He is just awful.  He recorded yall?!?!  This last visit?  What a turd.