Maintenance to PWC stops when university starts?

anh1904

One of my children went to university last September, but I still pay maintenance to his mother, who says she is expecting it while he is at university.

Looking through as much help as I can find, there seems to be conflicting views on whether it stops on 19th birthday, the september of the 19th birthday, or at the end of education (A level standard, not university).

Does it categorically end when he finishes full time (A level or below) education, and hence I should not have been paying it since last September.

Help and thoughts much appreciated.

AnxiousMum

It all depends - are you in a private agreement, and if so, what was the agreement? If you are using CSA - then CM would've stopped on the child's 19th birthday, or, if left A levels last year - then when they finished full time education and CB was no longer payable - so end of August last year.

Is your ex a single parent on low income? Or do they have a partner and on a decent income? If she is a single parent, or on a low household income, your child would also have been in receipt of maintenance grants which are non repayable, and could amount to between 2 and 3K per year, as well as any university bursary that they might've gotten based on income, and whether they got into first choice uni or not.

My ex still pays child support while in uni due to Canadian law, but if my son was getting bursaries/grants, I think it would be quite low to still get child support too.

mrsspendalot

anh1904 wrote: »

One of my children went to university last September, but I still pay maintenance to his mother, who says she is expecting it while he is at university.

Looking through as much help as I can find, there seems to be conflicting views on whether it stops on 19th birthday, the september of the 19th birthday, or at the end of education (A level standard, not university).

Does it categorically end when he finishes full time (A level or below) education, and hence I should not have been paying it since last September.

Help and thoughts much appreciated.

I would say that all depends on whether you have a private agreement, a court set agreement or a CSA agreement.

The CSA stop maintenance when the child is 19 or when they leave full time non-advanced education if it is before they turn 19.

If you settled maintenance through court years ago as part of a divorce, it depends what it says.

If your agreement is private between the two of you, it depends what you agreed between you.

Technically, assuming that there is no court order in place to say you have to pay throughout university, then you aren't legally liable to be paying maintenance to a PWC for a university student.

anh1904

Thanks for the replies, there was an order over 10 years ago which was drafted in mediation and rubber stamped, so I will dig that out, I guess I wrongly assumed there would be a standard approach.

AnxiousMum

In your case then yes, there is a standard approach - and that would be what is on the order.

jetta_wales

AnxiousMum wrote: »

In your case then yes, there is a standard approach - and that would be what is on the order.

Not sure how sarcasm is supposed to be constructive.

There would be a standard for CSA but if it's a private agreement then as stated it would depend entirely on what was on that agreement. If the two differe though and the agreement was not actualy a court order then you may well be able to change that. I'm sure somebody else will be able to clarify if that's possible but if there's a year or so difference in the term you'd be paying then it could well be worth looking at. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't want to continue to support the teen but if they're away in uni you could certainly be forgiven for wanting to give that money to them not their Mum now.

AnxiousMum

jetta_wales wrote: »

Not sure how sarcasm is supposed to be constructive.

Sarcasm? Where?

mrsspendalot

jetta_wales wrote: »

Not sure how sarcasm is supposed to be constructive.

There would be a standard for CSA but if it's a private agreement then as stated it would depend entirely on what was on that agreement. If the two differe though and the agreement was not actualy a court order then you may well be able to change that. I'm sure somebody else will be able to clarify if that's possible but if there's a year or so difference in the term you'd be paying then it could well be worth looking at. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't want to continue to support the teen but if they're away in uni you could certainly be forgiven for wanting to give that money to them not their Mum now.

Don't see how it is a sarcastic response? The OP didn't say that there was an order in place in the original post. He asked if there was a standard approach, and there is if you're with the CSA. If he has an order in place, then it is whatever the order states that is 'standard' to his circumstances.

sarflee

Sarcasm or not, I'm not sure you can state there is a standard approach on a court agreement of any kind as it is quite often open to interpretation. If the court order states higher education, does this mean first degree, second degree, bachelor, master, doctor? Tertiary education is a term often used in court orders and there is not a universal agreement as to what this means either, is it further education or higher education or both. When does it stop? It usually needs to be taken back to court for their interpretation and quite often different judges come to different conclusion.

AnxiousMum

As this is a consent order though - as the OP states, an order drawn up through mediation - so he and his ex came to an agreement as to the child support, surely they put their agreement into this consent order which was then stamped by a judge and made into a legal document?

Considering that the child/adult has entered into higher education possibly based on the understanding that they were going to be still in receipt of child support (possibly being kept by the PWC if student is still living at home, or, hopefully being forwarded on if living in halls) - then in reality the pwc and nrp need to look at what the agreement was and the understanding. One of the silliest things people do in a consent order, and judges don't pick up and point out, is that there is no 'end date' on it.

Surely the OP knew what the intention was when the order was made, and if not, they've pretty much set a precedent by continuing to pay to the pwc while the student is in university.

sarflee

I don't disagree with anything you've said, judges should advise that a proper "trigger" is included, and not ambiguous wording. With the introduction of CSA this has become less of problem though.

I recall, when I met my partner he was going through divorce and was made to believe by his ex's solicitor that including tertiary education in a consent order was "standard". I never got involved with any of his divorce until he told me they had been arguing back and forth for nearly 2 months over the wording. I just advised him that solicitors are there first and foremost to make money and will happily argue pointless things for months and to point out to them that the CSA can sort it out for free. Sorted!

On a personal note, I've never agreed with maintenance being paid to the PWC during university, if paid at all it should be paid direct to the child, but that is just an opinion!!