General Form of Order - Ancillary Relief

Hi,

I have a general form of order - Ancillary Relief dated 2006. I am happy to pay what it says within it but I am unsure as to when it stops. The statement reads:

"They shall end and on the later of each child respectively attaining the age of 18 or ceasing full time education".

What is classified as full time education?

Many thanks for you help.

There is a great debate about the term full time education. Some would argue it means of secondary education and others would say end of degree.

What did you believe it to be when you divorced?

Unfortunately "ceasing full time education" is ambiguous and if you and your ex can''t agree the only binding interpretation would be that of a court.

It is a difficult question - child benefit & CM ceases when the child out of full time education which is classed as 6th form or similar and only up to the age of 20 as long as they''re still in full time education. So you would have thought that was correct but as the others say it''s maybe going to be decided by court if you can''t decide between you.

Just to clarify, under CSA/child maintenance Service rules children qualify for child maintenance if they are in full time non advanced education (A Standard or less) until the age of 20. HOwever the CSA/CMS rules do not apply to court orders which are determined by statute - either s25 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 or Schedule 1 Children Act 1989 and neither of them define full time education. That''s why ceasing full time education is ambiguous and open to a judge''s interpretation.

If anyone is interested Mr Justice Mumby summarises the law relating to when a child''s dependency ends in NvN (paras 58-81)
and there is no Absolute rule.

www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed31586

Many thanks for all the replies.

I have noticed that the order actually states "ceasing full time secondary education" does that make the situation more clear as to when the maintenance should stop?

Once again many thanks for all your help.

Cheers,

Yes it does. If it says end of secondary education then payments in the court order stop when the child leaves school. HOwever if a child is continuing full time level education at A standard or less they will qualify for Child Benefit until the age of 20 and therefore usually child maintenance as well under CMS rules.