When does support stop?

Hi, my husband has 2 children in England ages 18 and 16. He was never married to their mother (her choice.) Therefore, he has never had any rights to them. We reside in the United States.

The mother and 2 children live in the home that was purchased about 15 yrs ago. We pay the mortgage, the endowments, a set amount to the mother, and utilities.

At what age are we no longer responsible for child support? When can we sell the house?

The usual Child Support Agency rules don''t apply when the a parent lives abroad unless they work for a UK employer. If there is a court order the end of child maintenance and providing the children with a home will depend on the terms of the order.

My husband is not employed by a U.K. employers and there was never a formal order for maintenance. Does that mean we can sell when the youngest, now aged 16 becomes 18 y/o? We pay more than would have been ordered by the courts had there been a maintenance order, by choice, because we wanted the children to be raised in their home.

Who owns the house? Is your husbands ex on the title deeds?
I think you need someone who knows about Housing / property law, as I don''t think you can just turf her out and sell the house if she has been living there for 15 years, she might well have some claim on the property.

Plus, seeing as you have been paying well over and above cm for the past however many years, do you really want to suddenly make the children homeless?

So, yes you can stop paying maintenence, but if the mortgage is in your husbands name it is his debt and he needs to continue to pay it regardless of how old the children are. And you''ll need to speak to someone who knows uk property law to find out what your husbands'' ex rights to remain in the house are, as I wouldn''t have thought you can just sell it.

The verbal agreement for several years has been that when the youngest child turns 18 the house would be sold. However, this woman has never kept her word.

The Ex does have some claim to the property. Her name is on the mortgage, also. The youngest child will be 18 in 2014. Two years is not "suddenly making them homeless." The mother will have the proceeds from her part of the sale. Our desire is to give the children some if not all of the proceeds from our half. The In 2014 our will be as such that we won''t have the money to pay.

We have already sacrificed our home here in the states and have moved into rent so that his children in England can remain in their home....due to a horrible situation, we could not pay for both.

At this point, if the Ex wishes to keep the home in 2014 we are ready to allow her to buy us out. If she refuses to do that and wants us to continue paying. We will be forced to default on the home.

Anyone?

His only real liability appears to be the mortgage. The other maintenance payments if not supported by a Consent/Court Order would not to be legally enforceable. Although saying that morally it would be right for child maintenance to be payable until the youngest is 18 or perhaps later if still in education.

Can your husband try and start discussions now with his ex so she isn''t caught short. Your husband appears to have supported his first family well for the last 15 years I would hope his ex would enter into reasonable negiotiation.