Child Maintenance after 18

midori

Could someone advise me when child maintenance actually ends? My daughter is 18, has just finished A Levels and will be going to university in October. The consent order states that maintenance should be paid until 18 or until the end of full time education. My question is does CM end now or at the end of August when child benefit ends? She will be living at home with me from now until October.

With thanks.

Donedoingdebt

If the case was being dealt with by the CSA, then the case would end on the first Monday in the September that your Daughter starts her university course or reaches the age of 19, whichever comes first.

You mention a consent order & therefore, it sounds as though the maintenance was set by court order. In this case, you would need to refer to the court as these cases are often more contentious as to what is deemed full time education.

For CSA purposes, advanced education is usually university courses & child maintenance normally ceases, as child benefit to the PWC stops. Child benefit remains payable for further education courses such as most college courses & therefore, child maintenance remains payable.

midori

Thank you. Yes, it is a court ordered consent order - I will contact the court for advice. I know CM will end when she goes to university - it's just these three months whilst she is still at home - not a huge amount of money, but would help!

Thanks for your advice.

AnxiousMum

Midori - get clarification from the court. My consent order doesn't have an end date, but as it was always assumed by both parents that the boys would go to university, child maintenance for my son starting uni in September/October will carry on for at least his first degree. In fact for the arrears, the agency doing the collection of those arrears, has listed arrears for my other son who was at university when the dad stopped paying for both children. This is a Canadian consent order, and being handled by the Canadian Maintenance Enforcement Agency - but Canadian law is based on UK law to some extent, so you may want to get clarification from your court as to what is considered 'full time education'. If it doesn't state 'secondar' or 'tertiary', but just 'full time education' - it may still be payable. After all, I'm sure you will be helping to support your daughter while in Uni, and providing somewhere for her to live, eat etc. for the 20 weeks or so she will not be on campus.

midori

Thank you AnxiousMum - I have rung the court and am about to write to them now to clarify. Ex has also been late with payments all year - usually three weeks late each month! CO states "reaching age of 18 or ceasing full-time education or until further Order". I will, of course, still be supporting my daughter when she's at uni and you are quite right, when she returns home for those 20 weeks! Am hardly not going to feed her! Many thanks again.

AnxiousMum

Midori - don't ask the court 'what do you mean by full time education'......state to them that your child is 'remaining in full time education attending XXXX course at XXXX College/University commencing on XXXXX date.', and that you want to clarify that child maintenance will still be payable in this instance.

ninab_2

i have a similar query and think i've posted before but cant find it.

I have a court order in place that states maintenance payable until 17 or full time education ceases whichever is the later, the so called father stopped paying recently but my son is off to uni in sept i have spoken to a solicitors secretarys on the telephone who have told me uni counts as full time but is a grey area and some cases win some loose. However i have spoken to a solicitor today who tell me that usually full time education finshes at A level stage but was vague and i got the impression she wasnt interested in the case.

My son still needs a roof over his head and food in his belly whilst he waits to go to uni and support whilst studying, so should i write back to the court too????

AnxiousMum

A couple of things that a solicitor could find helpful - was it always intended that your child would have the opportunity to go to university? Is university the 'done' thing in your family - ie, do mum and dad have degrees, was a university fund set up when the child was younger etc. This all goes to show the 'intent' that your child would go to university, and that the understanding of 'full time education' to you and your ex also includes university. It does seem to be a very grey area here in the UK - and I think that if both parents maybe have education only to GCSE standard, and the child is the first to go to university - then it could well be perceived by the courts that the intention to go to uni was never there, and that full time education would've been understood to be the end of high school etc.