[Solved] When do I stop paying CSA for my son

Yep, you can stop paying your ex for him - this is quoted from the Government's website ( https://www.gov.uk/when-child-maintenance-payments-stop):

Child maintenance payments usually stop when the child reaches 16 (or 20 if they're in full-time education up to A-level or equivalent). Child maintenance can also stop if, for example: the child stops being eligible for Child Benefit. the parent being paid stops being the child's main carer.

Whether you want to continue to provide the money directly to him while he's at uni, that is solely up to you and an agreement that would be made between you and him - your ex does not need to know or be invovled.

Hello Andre8525

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.

When a child leaves full-time education in the summer, Child Benefit generally continues until the first week of September. The definition of full-time education is more than 12 hours a week of study, on a course up to and including A-level standard. If the child is in advanced or higher education such as university, legally, they will no longer qualify for child maintenance through the statutory service.

If you would like any help negotiating your arrangement with your ex-wife, Child Maintenance Options do have some supporting tools and information about child maintenance on their website at http://www.cmoptions.org which you may find helpful.

If you have a statutory scheme in place with the Child Maintenance Service, you would need to contact them directly. Alternatively, if you have a Consent Order in England and Wales and Minute of Agreement in Scotland, you will need to seek legal advice.

You may also be interested to know the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, 'Sorting out Separation'. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is http://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/

For more information and for a more personalised service, you may wish to visit the Child Maintenance Options website yourself.

Regards

William

I notice that you asked the same question over nine months ago, when your son was 20 and was given the same advice, what happened?

[queote="Andre8525" post=91207]My son is now 21, no longer living at home and at university. I have an arrangement with my ex wife who is still insisting that I have to pay while he is at uni. Looking at some topics on here, the consensus I get is that I should mot be paying when he is at uni, can someone clarify this please.

Unless you have a court order stating that you have to pay, then there is no obligation for you to continue to pay - there is nothing your ex can do to enforce it. You could compromise and pay your son rather than your ex.

hi,

yes correct, when child starts uni, you don't pay maintenance. thats the rules if you are paying through the child maintenance service. child benefit also gets cut off.

Hi, the one item I can’t seem to find information on is if my son is at college doing an NVQ Diploma, does that count as up to A-Level??

I would rather give him the money, but my ex is adamant that she should still get the money and paid until he’s 18.

hi,

found info here:

NVQ Level 1 equivalent – 3/4 GCSE grades D-G. NVQ Level 2 equivalent – 4-5 GCSE grades A*-C. ... NVQ Level 4 equivalent – Higher Education Certificate/BTEC. NVQ Level 5 equivalent – Higher Education Diploma/Foundation Degree.

https://www.reed.co.uk/career-advice/nvq-levels-what-you-need-to-know/#:~:text=NVQ%20Level%201%20equivalent%20%E2%80%93%203,GCSE%20grades%20A*%2DC&text=NVQ%20Level%204%20equivalent%20%E2%80%93%20Higher,Higher%20Education%20Diploma%2FFoundation%20Degree

Hi

I have a 16 year old son who don't want to go college and want's to stay at home and do gaming but he has signed up and paid for an online computer course, and his mum is saying I still have to pay maintenance because he is doing the online course is this true.

Hi

My kids are only 13 but when there 16 and don't want to do full time education how do I find out if I can stop paying there mother?

you can try ring benefits office and find out if child benefit has stopped. probably better to wait till their 16.