End of maintenance

Hi,

I have a Consent Order that states that I pay the Ex £500 per month while my son is in full time education. I also pay his school fees of 3K per year. He didn’t do well in his GCSES and had to repeat his 5th year, he has since completed his first year of 6th form and has decided not to go on to upper 6th and to undertake an apprenticeship instead. I am supportive of this route and have told his mother that the maintenance will end although I will continue to financially support him. This will be an arrangement between myself and my son. She is obviously not happy with this as she had counted on having 6K for at least another year.

The terms of the consent order clearly state that he needs to be in full time education and not a paid apprenticeship, he is 19 in October so she has in my view no reason to complain. My question is, am I correct in assuming that maintenance will end? I am happy to continue to pay until September as I believe that is when child allowance will cease?

Any child maintenance included in an order can be superseded by an assessment by CMS after 12 months. As a result the amount may go up or down.

I think your understanding of when CM ceases is correct. If the apprenticeship is very low paid and he would not be able to support himself independently, he will still need to be housed and fed. Although it isn't mandatory, it would surely be reasonable to help out with those costs, especially if you no longer have the burden of school fees. If you do pay money to him directly I would suggest you make it clear it is towards living costs and ensure your ex is aware of the funds he is receiving so an agreement can be reached on rent/keep.

Hadenoughnow

As expected my ex does not agree, I have asked what she plans to charge him for living costs, if he chose to live with me it would be nil, although I recognise a disparity in income. The ex is now cohabiting (purchased joint property) and I feel that her living costs have now halved. I have offered to continue the payment of £500 per month for my son, with £200 direct to her and the remainder to my son. She has rejected this offer, surely the offer seems fair? I have told her to either take it or try her luck in court. Thoughts?

Your approach seems reasonable enough. Providing the court order only covered Child Maintenance I don't think the courts would be the right place to sort this out. An order cannof be rewritten after the event.

Why don't you speak to the CMS and ask for an assessment? Their assessment would supersede the court order.

Hadenoughnow

CB and any CMS assessment will end on 31st August.

You have made her an offer which she has rejected. Why even bother to discus it further with her?

The courts won’t be able to help her as adult children needing financial support from parents would need to make the application themselves.

If it works for you and your son why doesn’t he move to live with you while he is doing his apprenticeship?