[Solved] Appreciate your advice on this thaks

can I ask why you would not still pay maintenance if he is retaking these exams to get better grades?
Sometimes we have to do things we dont like but it is perhaps in his best interests if it is to help pay for fees etc?

Paying the private college fees to re take some of the exams is expensive if that's the choice, its not that which is the issue, just for clarity what is the meaning of full time secondary eduction? could in theory study and re take exams privately for ever,, just trying to establish at what point secondary eduction finishes I would have thought after A levels?

as far as im away it also encases any education taken straight after GCSE, ie Dipolmas etc at a college. These can last two to four years depending on part time or full time hence the stipulation of the age and whichever comes sooner.

however id want to support my child through their education and Both me and my ex husband have agreed to pay what we both need to if our son intends to go to uni etc in a few years.

being a parent doesnt end at 18 and as i always state, do what isnin the best interests of the child, if you do, then you can always hold your head high.

Hi Bruton - I think the only way you could resolve this is by having a court make that decision as it's not black or white. You could either stop paying, in which your ex would probably take you back to court - I suspect that a court may well decide that you should continue to pay, especially since your ex is probably still getting child benefit, so under CMS rules, you would still be liable for maintenance, which is an easy guide for the court to follow.

It might be worth following diamond72's words to some extent and see if there is some mutual arrangement you can come to with your ex, rather than testing it in court, as the danger in doing so is that since you were in court, the maintenance rules have changed so that it can now continue up to age 20 if child benefit is still being paid, so you could find the court extending the maintenance further.

Hi Bruton,

I have moved this post over to the Child Maintenance board because it's the best place for it.

I will ask Child Maintenance Options to pop by and explain exactly what they believe 'full time secondary education' means.

Cheers

Gooner

Bruton,

If I have read your post correctly - you are not complaining about paying maintenance for your son just wanting a definition of what is full time secondary education? If i am right, then I can totally understand this. I don't know the answer to your question btw sorry.

Would university count as well?

Hi Bruton Street

Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I will provide some information that may help answer your query.

If you wanted to use the statutory rules, 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. You can find more information on the statutory rules on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/when-child-maintenance-payments-stop.

However, with you having a Consent Order in place for child maintenance, you will need to review the terms and conditions of your arrangement to see what has been defined as secondary education. To help you with this, you may wish to seek legal advice.

For more information on the ways to set up child maintenance, please visit our website at http://www.cmoptions.org. Alternatively, you can call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on a Saturday. We have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.

Regards

William