Does child maintenance stop once DC have finished Alevels or continue if they go to Uni?

[hulahoopsilove]

Im confused the government site says
"Child maintenance payments usually stop when the child reaches 16 (or 20 if theyre in full-time education not higher than A-level or equivalent)"

DSD is 18 in March having taken AL's last 2 years...we assumed maintenance would stop at 18 - she is going to Uni next year for 2 years does child maintence continue till she is out of education?

It's done as a private agreement between DH and his ex

I would guess not since it says not higher than a-level or equivalent which uni is.

what is she doing now? presumably not in full time education? If not then I can't see that the NRP would "have" to pay CM. Whether he choses to do so in order to support her in whatever she is doing (as an adult she should be at least trying to support herself though).

I read it to mean it WOULD stop if they are doing anything higher than AL's

If it's a private agreement then it stops when the private agreement stops.

But usually it would stop at 18 and your DH would then make an arrangement direct with his DD of how much he wants to support her at uni.

she is doing AL's at 6th form so I assume she will take these next year when she is 18, she is applying now for Unis for end of next year

He should pay until she goes to uni. If he still wants to contribute after then it should go directly to his dd.

It stops post a-level.

The child is an adult so any financial support can be directly between the parent and child like any other. No need for csa or the other parent to be involved.

I would think that if she's going to uni then your dh can support his child direct.y rather than giving her mum the money, assuming of course she's not going to be living at home

it will stop when he legally has to stop that's why clarification on date
is needed

Do you mean stop at the moment she turns 18 or when she leaves school after A levels? She won't suddenly become self sufficient at 18 and able to pay her own way.

IMO (as the RP) I would hope it continued until they left school and then became an arrangement between the parent and child if they went on to Uni.

provisions have been made for after but this isnt what I am asking...

It stops when they finish college/school and go to uni or get a job etc. we will stop payment to dsd mum when she turns 18 which I know will cause problems. We will however make provision directly to dsd depending on what she does after college.

We have had this saga.

I was assuming 1st September the year they turn 18, as that is when Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit stops. And they go to university at some point in September, although it leaves a few weeks not covered.

sorry, I misread your OP, I assumed she was now post A-level but not going to uni till next Sep?

So you are querying whether it stops say May/Jun or Aug/Sep?

It stops when they finish a-levels. DSS did his last exam in June, and DH stopped paying then.

I should add that we now pay his Uni accommodation. Our choice though, it's not mandatory.

If it was through the CSA it would stop on the 1st September when child benefit stops if they are going to university, or if they continue and repeat at all it stops no later than their 20th birthday.

My DS turned 20 last year. He took A Levels in Sixth Form then decided he'd made a mistake with his subject choices. He went to college to take a BTEC course. Because the course was equivalent to A Levels both CSA and child benefit continued to be paid until his 20th birthday. If the course was higher than A Level qualifications both payments would have stopped at the end of the school year in which he was 18.

well I think he will speak to his ex about it at she will be 18 March and I assume taking final AL's May/June

My consent order says until the end of the first degree. He stopped paying a couple of years ago and I had to go back to court as he lives overseas to have the order enforced. So glad I did because they have continued to take the payments, which are now passed to DD, from his salary, if he was in this country the CSA would've stopped taking payments after her A levels.

DSS also at uni and DH pays him direct what he used to give his XW.

my consent order says until the end of the first degree

Ouch! Being legally obliged to keep paying til a "child" is 21 (or 22 if they need to re-take a year) is a bit rough.

We have just had this, we stopped payments to dss's mum on August 31st as this is the last day of the school year after his a levels. We now pay dss directly and will continue to do so till he finishes uni.

I expect a lot of resident fathers in 'together' families simply can't afford to support their children through Uni, and even if they could, they're not legally obliged to do so - so it shouldn't be any different for non resident fathers.

CHB will continue to be paid up until the Monday of the first week in September of the year in which the sixth form course ends.

CM is payable as long as CHB is in payment.

So your DP can stop paying CM on 7th September 2015 unless DSD goes on to study further FE courses at college immediately after sixth form.

Hopefully he will still support in some way at uni, though?