Maintainance to end of childs education

I thought it was the Scots were supposed to be mean and up here there is a general obligation under s1 Family Law (Scotland) Act 1985 for all parents to maintain their 18-25 year old 'children' whilst undergoing education or training.

In fact in nearly all other EU countries parents have obligations towards their student offspring. In some countries children in need of any age can claim support from a parent and under some jurisdictions a parent in need can claim support from their adult children.

On average young people don't leave home until they are 24 in the UK and the stability family support offers is a major factor relating to young people remaining in employment, education or training.The vast majority (somewhere between 80-90%) of students report they receive financial support or benefits in lieu from their parents. Why should children of divorced parents be any different?

In an ideal world there would be no need to legislate for CM but we don't live in an ideal world. Kevin, on the issue of courts telling men to fund their children it's worth pointing out that the Student Loans Company assess the amount of contribution that the parent(s) with whom a dependent student lives is expected to pay. ( A dependent student is defined as someone under 25 years of age who has not supported themselves for at least three years)

The bottom line is we all need to concentrate on what the law says can be done, work within the system and not invent one we wish existed.

Surely the steps are these,

1) Apply for a Maintenance Assessment to the CSA.

2) Make sure you tick the box on the form indicating an existing Consent Order, and send a copy of the order to the CSA.

3) CSA have jurisdiction now, and inform the Court which knows that the CM section of the Consent Order is now ineffective.

4) CSA assess child as not qualifying, issues nil assessment.

5) Discuss matters directly with your daughter.

For CSA purposes children are under 16 or between 16 and 19 and in full time, non-advanced education (not higher than A level standard) The Courts have jurisdiction for over 18s in education or training not the CSA. It makes sense to negotiate an arrangement directly or as a solicitor has been involved in this case through lawyers.

So I potentially have 2 kids in university past my retirement age when I will be on next to nothing. I can hit my ex wife with a maintenance order up until they both leave university. That will please her.

I dont mind paying for the education but after a year out ?
Is this not just the kid deciding work is not for me I will go back to school.

I wonder if it would be in order to ask a question on
this subject as my wife has informed me that as part of
our financial agreement there needs some ironing out
of as to when child maintenance payments should cease.

As my wife has employed Richard Turpin Associates to
represent her I think I know where this is going to lead.

On an ethical note I fully intend to attempt to pay whatever
I can afford towards my two childrens further education.
Perhaps also house deposits / Marriage costs etc.
However I am unhappy for this to be included in a child
maintenance agreement.
My question is that if there is insistance in the financial
agreement to include for costs of further education
could this money go directly as maintenance to the children
and not as child maintenance to my wife?
She is not very good with money and I question how much
of it would directly benefit the children. Not that she
doesn't have their best interests at heart I'd like to add. The children are presently nine and ten years old.

Costs of further educaton can be very large relatively
speaking so what if I don't have this money ?
Then they would have to rely on loans I suppose but
you can't get blood out of a stone.
Perhaps the principle of conservation of energy doesn't
apply when it comes to divorce financial settlements.



Regards

Hal

"I dont mind paying for the education but after a year out ?
Is this not just the kid deciding work is not for me I will go back to school."

Not necessarily. Working in a burger joint for a year can provide excellent motivation to study. These days many students take a gap year for all sorts of reasons and as they will be working until they are 68 before reaching state pensionable age I don't blame them.

"However I am unhappy for this to be included in a child
maintenance agreement."

The advantage of having it included in a maintenance agreement is it can save hassle and costs later sorting it out.

"could this money go directly as maintenance to the children
and not as child maintenance to my wife?"

It's possible, in our case we both pay maintenance to the children. However, based on experience with our children and their friends they still use home quiet a lot and the costs of running a house to accommodate 3 people instead of one are not insignificant. That's probably why court orders are usually made in favour of the parent for the benefit of the child.

"Then they would have to rely on loans I suppose but
you can't get blood out of a stone."

The problem is the maximum annual loan plus grants for a dependent student (under 25, having not lived independently for 3 years) to cover living costs is about £4.5k whilst the actual cost is nearer £10k.

"what if I don't have this money ?"

When the courts have jurisdiction as they do for maintenance for over 18s, it is awarded on the need of one party and the ability to pay of the other.