How long ...

Hi, I have a private agreement with my ex as my son lives with him. Our son hopes to go to uni when he has completeed his A levels. He starts his 2nd year in September and will be 18 early next year. Will I be forced to pay until he is 19 or only until the end of his A levels, presuming he gets an ok grade from his first year? He could fail and have to do year one again. Does that mean if that happens that payments will continue until he passes or only until he is 19?

If you have a private agreement you aren't forced to pay at all. However, your son will continue to need your support until he goes to university and indeed when he is there, so I think you need to reckon to be paying for a while yet.

Best wishes,
Sadie

Thanks for your reply, Unfortunatly when he goes to uni I will not be able to support him financially, I can just about manage financially until then.

A private agreement can be superceeded if either of you goes to the CSA. Under CSA rules you are liable to pay until your son reaches 19, or leaves full time secondary education, whichever happens first.


So you don't have a legal obligation to support him once he goes to university.
In some circumstnaces, your son might apply in his own right for financial support from you, and of course it would be reasonable for you to provide some support to him (perhaps direct rather than via your ex), if you possibly can, even if you can't afford to do so at the same level as now.

It may also be sensible to make sure that your ex is aware that you won't be able to afford to pay once your son leaves school. It may also be worth while seeing if you can help your son in other ways, for example by researching any local grants or burseries which he might be ableto apply for to help cover his university costs (There are quite a lot of small charities which can offer small contributions to local students, for instance)