Maintenance for 18 year old at Uni

leighliz

Hi, not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question. My eldest daughter has just been accepted at Uni to study for a degree from this September and I understand that I will no longer able to claim child benefit,and therefore child maintenance for her. I have heard that the child then has a right to take the NRP to court to claim maintenance to help fund further studies and wondered if anybody had any knowledge of this, and how she would go about it. Thanks in advance for any advise.

speedster

long and drawn out battle.

will nrp not be helping out of his own accord?

leighliz

Unfortunately not, I have had to fight long and hard with the CSA over the past nine years, and still he does everything within his powers to avoid his liabilities.

Donedoingdebt

I believe that the child has a right to take either or both parents to court.

However, this is not straight forward & the judge will take all aspects of the case into consideration before deciding on an outcome.

chriszzz

leighliz wrote: »

Hi, not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question. My eldest daughter has just been accepted at Uni to study for a degree from this September and I understand that I will no longer able to claim child benefit,and therefore child maintenance for her. I have heard that the child then has a right to take the NRP to court to claim maintenance to help fund further studies and wondered if anybody had any knowledge of this, and how she would go about it. Thanks in advance for any advise.

Under the Childrens Act the child has to apply themselves for help with maintenance to support them at university.
Most children will will be eligible for student loan and grants to help support them while at university and pay them back once they have employment, most go down that road.
Thats the road my son is taking as his father doesnt have the finances to help him, although I will support him as much as I can.
We all can look at this differently and am hppy that my son wants to stand on his own two feet and is looking forward to learning new coping skills. He is a very independent young man and am really happy that he doesnt hold anything against his father and he understands that you carnt always get what you want, he has a very healthy mind and knows that there is more important things in life than fighting for money, he is very focused on getting his degree, nothing else matters to him and that way he has healthy relationship with both parents.
So I suppose it depends on what your Daughter wants to do and if its her choice to take her dad to court. Wish you well with what you decide to do.

AnxiousMum

Was it always the intention that she would go to university? If so, then she may stand a chance in taking parents to court for support. I know with my child maintenance order we had always planned on the kids to go to university - and Canadian maintenance enforcement is enforcing child support in arrears for my son who has now left university due to not receiving the promised financial help, and for my next son who is just about to start on his first degree.

But....alot of courses do allow enough time for a student to work 8-12 hours per week with no detrimental effect on their course - and along with student loans/maintenance loans and grants, your child should be able to support themself through uni. My first son only had 20 contact hrs per week in his course, but next son has 40 contact hours per week - and so will not be able to dedicate time to a part time job.

DUTR

chriszzz wrote: »

Under the Childrens Act the child has to apply themselves for help with maintenance to support them at university.
Most children will will be eligible for student loan and grants to help support them while at university and pay them back once they have employment, most go down that road.
Thats the road my son is taking as his father doesnt have the finances to help him, although I will support him as much as I can.
We all can look at this differently and am hppy that my son wants to stand on his own two feet and is looking forward to learning new coping skills. He is a very independent young man and am really happy that he doesnt hold anything against his father and he understands that you carnt always get what you want, he has a very healthy mind and knows that there is more important things in life than fighting for money, he is very focused on getting his degree, nothing else matters to him and that way he has healthy relationship with both parents.
So I suppose it depends on what your Daughter wants to do and if its her choice to take her dad to court. Wish you well with what you decide to do.

Excellent reply :beer:

goRt

I'm sure the CSA rules are full-time education up to 19th BD - that could be some way into the first year.
If you divorced was there a consent order, was it covered in there?

kelloggs36

No it won't cover any time whilst at uni as it is EITHER 19th birthday OR up until they start advanced education (which is what uni is). So it will stop on the 1st Monday in September.

kingfisherblue

It was always my daughter's intention to study for a degree - she was hoping to go away to university but in the end decided to stay at home and study with the OU whilst working. My ex and I split up when she was thirteen. It has always been my understanding, though, that my ex's financial responsibilities ended when child benefit ended, which was the first Monday in September after she left sixth form (or earlier, if she had managed to get a job by then - she hadn't, although she started work the following month).

The OP's daughter will be classed as an adult and therefore needs to make her own decisions as an adult. I would be surprised if she could force the NRP to pay maintenance while she is at university, unless it was a part of the divorce settlement. My barrister (my divorce was very complicated!) told me that very occasionally, the NRP has to make a financial allowance for older children at university, but this is almost always when the parents split up after the child is 16.

Would the OP's daughter really want to potentially damage her relationship with her father? And if she has no relationship with him, does she want to damage the possibility of a future relationship with him?

bdt1

Kelloggs can I ask you, if a child for MA purposes reaches 19 mid July, is it right that the assessment for the same child continues until 3rd Sept, the child we believe may have been studying in qualifying education, but would have finished exams in July before the 19th birthday anyway, is this correct?