child maintenance payments - child turning 18

Mistermeaner

hi i pay child maintenance to my ex for my 17 year old son under a mutual arrangements (no authorities involved). He is in full time education (college A levels) and turns 18 soon.

My question is when he turns 18 can I pay maintenance to him directly rather than to his mum?

Does anything change if/when he goes to university?


Thanks

M4rkOne97One

While I know it's a mutually agreed arrangement have a look at this link https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance-service for general advice on your financial obligations if the CMS were involved but I would think that any change in your current arrangement would have to be agreed by both you and his Mum. You don't say if your agreement is in writing or verbal, hopefully it's in writing and you both can agree amicably how you'll proceed going forward.

Mistermeaner

thanks, our arrangement was documented via whatsapp (most recent changes anyway) so i guess it is in writing.... 

Having read up on it I am not proposing to change anything at the moment and will continue paying her directly while son is in final year of college

As i read the .gov website there is no obligation for me to continue paying once he finishes college, so essentially i can stop payments to her once he completes his last exam next summer - i read it that if he goes to uni i am not obliged to pay her anything

I will of course continue to support my son as may be required from end of college and beyond albeit i will do it directly to him rather than via her

CheckingThingsOver

If you have an informal agreement, you can essentially do what you like. 

If she disagrees, she can then open a case with the CMS who will tell you to pay until your son either turns 20, or leaves non-higher education (a-levels etc), whichever comes first.

If a CMS case is opened, they will not consider anything that happened before the CMS case was opened. Ergo, if you stopped paying on an informal agreement now, they would only consider you liable for CMS payments from the point the CMS case was opened and not before.