Do we keep quiet about child trust fund?

You should eb getting the guts of that a week if both of your kids are his, if he is not self employed you need to go to CMS and get what you are entitled to

"If there is no agreement in place and child maintenance is due to end when the child finishes secondary school, then a parent may be able to apply to the court under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 to the court for continued financial support from the other parent. Crucially, the child must be or soon to be in education or training, and the application must be made before the child’s 18th birthday."

This child is not yet 18.

https://www.russell-cooke.co.uk/news-and-insights/news/children-in-university-how-it-affects-child-maintenance

You have no intention of making your daughter lie

You know that he absolutely will ask her how much in the fund

I’m intrigued how you can square the above?

The wider question is around whether the very existence of the student loan has fuelled a market in creating student accommodation that's rather more expensive and luxurious than was available in the past (my student accom was more like The Young Ones but smaller and more rodent infested) The loan is then constantly playing spiral catch up to the rental market inflating the cost further. All these kids who must have private en suite... DD was told firmly she was sharing her toilet with the rest of the floor lol.

Exactly @Crafthead - when we did the uni open days round last year accomodation was often around the 8 or 9k mark for the first year.

To the poster who thinks £500 excessive - my daughters maintenance loan for London was the max at £13,000 annually. So just over £1,000 a month. She had just under £500/month to pay in rent whilst in halls, it was significantly more when private renting after first year. So if OPs daughter has just £500 / month she'll not be eating.

Omg i'd absolutely keep quiet about this! I've done something different - DD took the max loan, worked thro uni, and managed, but has about 20k saved by me / my mum in a help to buy ISA (no longer avail sadly) the idea being the govt will add 25% to it when she buys her first home. She also has about 5k in premium bonds which she won't set up management for as she'd need to make a phone call and "Gen z just cant make phone calls" apparently. anyway her degree is in acting, so she'll likely never actually earn enough to pay the loan back.
She's now on a sort of gap year saving to do a masters.

And that £500 will be given directly to the child after she’s 18 until she’s 20. That’s a lot more than anyone I knew at uni had coming in monthly!

It is a myth that 50% means no cms. They have to provide day to day care Inc school and doctors etc proof of meeting needs. Less than 6% of 50/50 arrangements require no cms....this is what I do for a living. Submit application and ask for a mandatory reconsideration. Also re the child trust fund. Sit daughter down and say of you tell him he will not contribute. If he thinks he does not have to he won't. If you are primary parent then it will be based on his income....as for DS when it comes to him going possibly to uni male ex his primary carer he will then be expected to pay for it all as based on his income. Of he won't son can go to LA who will give him exemption. Hope this helps

So he could argue that she should have saved the money in a vehicle he didn't know about so he wouldn't have been able to find an excuse not to pay half the cost of his child going to university?

Put half in Isa for age 25 and other half is your contribution to uni fees, dad pays his half

Parents are supposed to fill the gap but there is nothing stating only one parent should do. They look at the income of the house the student lived in for ease and it is probably why parents aren't forced to pay (they would have to do the loan calculation properly and take the income of both parents into account if they were going to enforce payment).

@coffeeaddict77 Because the amount of loan the student can apply for is dependent on the income of the parent they live with. Which is usually the mother. That parent is expected to contribute the value of the gap.

You should look into the 50/50 part for your son OP. Child maintenance is still payable for half the nights if the father isn’t doing his share of the caring I.e. does the father do an equal share of picking up, dropping off, clubs, hospital appointments etc? If not, it might be worth speaking to CMS!

The child will be able to see how much is saved when they are 16. My dd has had a letter with her national insurance number and the ability to log into the child trust fund and see the amount. She can choose to take control over this but can't withdraw the money out until she's 18.

Tbh in your shoes op, can you afford half the uni fees if dd doesn't use her trust fund money? I'd be tempted to tell her the money is to do with as she wishes. You and her df will go 50/50 on uni fees etc. maybe it's worth she uses the money for driving lessons and a car or a house deposit. But do make sure she knows it from you and you alone. Maybe her df would like to give her the equivalent amount to add to the house deposit

to be fair, he could argue that no one forced her to save money in this fashion and she could have well saved in an alternative vehicle thus avoiding this situation.

It is fair, if ex is buying 50% of things DS needs including clothes, pocket money, school dinners, school trips and hobbies.

If not then OP is out of pocket.

Yeah the mother should be topping that up significantly is she's a high earner.

I'm afraid you can't, the trust fund becomes automatically the right of the child once they turn 18.

OP can't remove money, it is her daughters. She is just managing it. Only her daughter can touch the money and not until she is 18.

Did tell
the ex that it was going into an isa untill after her uni is complete .

He doesn’t nee to know your business .
Why should he get of Scott free