Maintenance payments - full time education

Hi Forum

I wondered if anyone can help me with something I have going on at the moment. My son is 18 and is in his first year doing a sports diploma at a college away from home (he has already done A Levels, didn''t do at all brilliantly with these). The diploma course he is doing is a one year, stand alone course. He is now saying that he wants to go on to do a 3 year sports degree, a totally separate course.

What is my position as far as his maintenance payments go? The order says that his dad pays up until he''s 17 or finishes full time education. Is there any risk with the payments, given that the diploma he is on is a one year stand alone, or can I say that the maintenance continues into what will be a separate second 3 year tertiary course.

Thanks for any help in advance,

Gwynnie

I see you haven''t had a reply so I will try.

It seems you have a Court order and in cases like this, I always say that I need to see the actual order, and not attempt to give advice on people''s interpretation of it.

The trouble is that '' full time education '' can mean just about anything. The wording is wide enough to include postgraduate degrees. In theory you can remain a student all your life if you have the means to do it.

But for ordinary mortals there must be some limit to the extent to which parents can be expected to support grown up children through uni. My advice is always that parents should agree on the extent to which they will support their children and make sure the order reflects that intention.

The short answer is that, without seeing the order ( and I mean the whole unabridged order, though you can by all means black out the names ) I cannot safely advise.

LMM

Thanks ever so much for your reply. I think I''d be covered for maintenance if my son had gone straight to the 3 year degree. It''s the fact that he''s in the middle of a one year stand alone diploma that makes me worry a little... That course will end in June. The degree then starts up in October 2014 but as a completely separate thing.

I''ll dig out my order for the wording,

Gwynnie

The wording is ''reaches the age of 17 or finishes full time education, whichever is the latter''.

If he''d have gone to do the 3 year degree straight from A Levels, would I be in a *better* position, as far as maintenance continuing...than I am now that he''s done a 1 year stand alone diploma before the degree..

I''m very confused about what to do if the ex says he''s stopping maintenance after the diploma. At this stage I really don''t want to get solicitors involved or have too much agro unless my case for asking for continued payments is a very strong one.

I''m also unsure as to how the order itself is *finished*, as it were. Once the payments to my son stop, is there anything that myself or my ex need to *do* re closing the order off. Do we send it back to the court, for example?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Gwynnie

Could you ask your ex to support his son directly?

Some people seem more amenable to that.

It''s poor wording at best, technically he is still in full time education, that said once the order is a year old dad can apply to the CSA for assessment unless the child is too old in which case court decide, if the order was sealed 2002 or before again court have duristiction, chances are the father will have to pay if funds allow.

It confuses me when people say that maintenance doesn''t continue past A Levels (even when an order says until full time education is finished), and then others say that even if the order says this, it doesn''t include full time education beyond A Levels..

If my ex says he''s not paying past the one year stand alone diploma, do I tell him that the order says that he is? I can organise something where he pays the son directly at a later date - I just want to be clear on whether the order is that he still pays...or whether there''s any room at all for interpretation on it - whereby I might find myself on the end of some sort of ''fight/debate/legal kerfuffle''..

Thanks,

Gwynnie