Help! Partner left and now I have school fee's to pay.

sundancegirl

Hi I wonder if anyone can help?

My husband left without warning and my son (age 16).

We are left with school fee's to pay. I am paying my share and not my ex parners.

We together did take our son out of the school and made this joint decision. Our decision was based on purely that we did not feel this school performed partcualry well or provided our son with the education we expected of a fee paying school.

We missed taking him out before the term finished by a few weeks. He is now at a state school and is not at the private school but have to pay the fee's for the term which is fair enough.

The school has asked for £500 per month and have advised in their letter they will take court action if I do not pay.

I just simply cannot afford it, although I work full time its not a great income and I am already left with lawyers bills and other house hold bills due to my husband leaving.

Has anyone ever been in this situation? If so what did you do and how did you handle it?

Thanks for your time and attention.

pogofish

Make them an offer of a tenner a week and remind them that after essential considerations, a court is unlikley to award them much more.

Then they will negotiate a more reasonable amount.

victor2

Try contacting one of the governors of the school and explain your situation. They might have a sympathetic ear and arrange for a reduction in the cost and/or easier terms. You could also diplomatically drop in something along the lines of what pogofish has said.
Could depend on the circumstances you took your son out of the school as well. If it was on good terms then you may have a chance. If you openly criticised the school then maybe not.

floss2

I agree - if you don't tell them, they won't know why you can't pay. It obviously doesn't matter about keeping your head held high if your son no longer attends the school, so be brave & bite the bullet!

Debt_Free_Chick

Why is your husband not paying his share? Is he paying his share of anything?

clearingout

do speak to them - I had a similar situation some years ago which resulted in a CCJ against both myself and the ex. I have to say the school concerned were pretty aggressive about recovering their money - I don't have an issue with that, we signed a contract and knew what we were getting into, but I was practically destitute at the time (pregnant, one days's work a week, ex refusing to pay anything at all) and simply couldn't afford to pay the fees or I would have done. They were not sympathetic at all - although I can only assume they had been led a merry dance by my ex at the same time so probably more to it than I realised!

Try not to worry but keep on top of it by talking with them.