Paying Child Support after 19 years old.

If the payment given was used to support my Husbands Daughter then it wouldn''t be a problem. However apart from taking her to the odd dance lesson, paying her mobile phone and food then it appears the bulk of the money is being used to support the ex-wifes lifestyle and is not being spent on his Daughter who appears to buy all her own clothes etc.
My Husband wants to teach her financial responsibility which her Mother is not doing. She tells her Daughter she has no money yet she goes away every year, (The Daughter doesn''t get a holiday unless my Husband pays for it over and above the CM)has a cleaner and a gardener and still moans she is broke to her Daughter. The Ex-Wife does not contribute anything financially for her Daughter despite getting a large payout in the Divorce so the Daughter had a good home. It seems fair that at this stage My Husband pay''s his Daughter directly so she can then pay keep, pay her own clothes, phone, petrol money to her Mother etc so that she learns how to control her own finances.
His Ex wife won''t throw her Daughter out on the street. My Husband has 2 other children who still live with his ex who he paid CM for until they left school and they are both now working and paying rent/keep to their Mother.
Unfortunately his ex-wife is not good with her finances and is then willing to throw even money straight to a Solicitor rather than talk to my Husband directly.

Whatever you think of the ex wife, if she is feeding, washing her clothes, paying the electric, water, etc, where the 19 year old lives, that all costs money.

I know my bills will go down when my 18 year old moves out. Hair straighteners on for ages, bath filled to the brim, lights left on, etc.

If the court order was for a Clean Break and the reference to childcare was along the line that it would be via a private arrangement or in line with the CSA, then once the daughter reaches 19 then maintenance stops, however the daughter could claim for support in her own right and as the father is suggesting this then there is nothing the mother can do.

I would arrange to start paying the daughter directly from her 19th birthday and ignore the solicitors letter re courts.

She provides food and shelter but his Daughter does her own washing etc. Yes I appreciate that heating and hot water etc costs money but not in XS of >7K a year when she is buying all her own clothes etc. There are 5 adults living in the house and the Ex''s new boyfriend has kids that stay over every other week and for half of the holidays etc. If you were to split the bills 5 ways then no way does it add up to over 35K a year on food and bills. Bear in Mind that the house was bought outright with the Divorce money so no Mortgage to pay and the other kids do contribute to their keep.

I''m not sure it is worth the hassle arguing about this because at most you are talking about saving a couple of months'' payments. The bottom line is the law changed a few years back to raise a child''s age of eligibility for the CSA from 19 years to 20 and that is due to be implemented very soon. According to the National Audit Office the new CSA scheme is still to be implemented in October this year so as long as the course is full time your husband is going to be liable for CM until next year anyway.

If my Husband stops paying his ex when his daughter is 19 and starts to contibute to his Daughter directly in line with the CSA rules which is the current legislation, can the CMEC rules be retrospectively applied? This would mean that all parents who have stopped paying for their children at 19 could be chased for arrears and anyone who had stopped paying in line with the CSA would have to start paying again if their child was still under 20 in full time education. That surely is very unlikely especially if the original agreement was a private agreement.

The CSA is just an arm of C-MEC and they aren''t responsible for any payments or arrears accrued before they receive an application.

Regardless of which scheme they are on all children continuing full time non advanced education will be eligible for child maintenance until they reach the age of 20 years old when the changes are implemented. If a child has already reached 19 and the CSA haven''t been involved or the case is closed it can be reopened.