hi, my 17 year old daughter leaves college this week and becomes self dependant, when can i stop my payments to her mother? thanks for any replies.
Hi richians
I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I understand you would like to know if you can stop your child maintenance payments, when your daughter leaves college next week.
Under child support legislation, regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education (A-level or equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid. Further information on when Child benefit ends can be found at https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-16-19/your-child-leaves-education-or-training. Also, anyone aged 16 or 17 who is not in education, is not working and does not receive employment related benefits, is also defined as a child.
In your post you have not indicted what type of maintenance arrangement you have in place. If you and your daughter's mother have a family-based arrangement, it would be between you both to agree when your payments would end.
If you have a case in place with the Child Support Agency (CSA), you will need to contact them directly to confirm when your payments stop. Their contact details can be found on any letter they have sent you, or this website www.gov.uk/child-support-agency provides their contact details.
If you have a Consent Order for child maintenance, you will need to seek legal advice in regards to what was written into your original order. Please use the following link which can help you find a legal advisor in your area http://find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk/. Alternatively, you may wish to speak to the solicitor who started the original proceedings.
To find out more about how Child Maintenance Options can help you visit cmoptions.org or call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on Saturday.
Thanks
William