Consent Order

I have been divorced for 5 years now and have a Consent Order from the court. In this order it states that my ex should pay till my children finish secondary education or till the end of their 1st degree (I asked for this to be put in at the time knowing my daughter would go to uni) My ex has informed me that he is stopping payments for my daughter now as she is 19 and that the consent order is only valid for 12 months and it means nothing so he can stop payments. she still has 3 years left at uni....Advice anyone is this true???

The man is mistaken, write and warn him if payments do stop you will apply to court to have the terms enforced, also you will seek costs of the application and hearing, the court will enforce the order in the way they see fit.

thank you so much that is so helpful. so I dont need to go to a solicitor just apply to court?

You can do it yourself yes if you call court they will explain the procedure, it's not very complicated and only costs £45, do your best to sort it without court though so write a letter email or whatever and keep copy's so you can show in court you have done all you can to resolve the issue.

Oh thank you so much this has been a real nightmare for me the past few weeks. My Daughter has no time for her father as the relationship broke down many years ago, but I still need the payments to support her in Uni, I have explained to him the above which he still argues and has now turned to blackmail in my mind and said he will make the payments direct to my daughter if she starts to speak to him again. Divorce eh? you would think 5 years down the line it would all be civilized. Thanks again for your advice very kind of you indeed. Sue

He has it a bit wrong, you can apply to vary maintenance after the order is a year old, in order to be successful he would need to show on paper that he can no longer afford to pay, if his financial circumstances still enable him to pay as per the order the payments will be enforced.

Its also worth letting him know that if this does end up in court due to none payment costs very often follow, so he would also have to pay some or all of your legal costs to enforce the order, before he does anything he should speak to a family law solicitor.

Your advice has been invaluable I cannot thank you enough!