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Hi, this is my first time writing on any Forum on any topic.
I have a daughter from a previous marriage that ended in divorce in 2002. At the time the court awarded my ex-wife £300/month as Child Maintenance and this was to continue until my daughter was 17 or had completed full-time education, whichever was later.
During the last 16 years I have married again and had 2 children. Also during this time I had some periods of unemployment and at one stage was unable to make any child maintenance payments. The arrears added up to about £2,000 and my ex-wife took me to court for payment. I was made to pay the arrears at an additional £50 per month on top of the original amount and this was being overseen by the Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre, there was a standing order set up for them to receive the payment from my account to then pay to my ex-wife.
I have not seen my daughter for over 6 years, not through lack of trying, she doesn't want anything to do with me.
I now live in another country.
My daughter has now finished school and the original order finished on 21 July 2017 so I wrote to the Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre asking how they would want me to continue to pay the arrears, a little over £1,000.
They have responded, after the date the original order ended, by saying they have received notification from my ex-wife that my daughter is starting a 3 year course in September and the order has been extended and they are waiting for the University's certificate before they notify me of the extension.
I only ever thought I would be paying until she had finished school and after reading comments on the Forum I believe that any university course would be classified as advanced and I would not have to pay anything further.
Are the MEBC entitled to extend an order or would it have to go through a court again?
Do I have any options? I have responded to MEBC stating I feel the order to be complete.
Hi there
Generally, once a court order for maintenance has been in place for more than 12 months, it can be overridden by making a claim to the CMS (child maintenance service). Either parent can do this.
CMS rules state that when a child enters advanced education, maintenance payments should stop, however as this is a court order it might be different...if the court order doesn't specify the level of education, that might be why it has been extended without having to return to court.
As your child is entering advanced education, I doubt that you would be able to open a case with the CMS, as far as they're concerned, under their rules she isn't eligible for maintenance.
You're in a difficult situation, you may have to apply back to court to ask that the payments should stop in line with the CMS rules, but there are no guarantees that you would be successful.
Best of luck
Hi There,
.
I agree with Mojo, You are in a difficult situation, I would ask the courts for guidence, you could try and write to the judge and ask for help, but you may have to apply to court to see what you need to do.
.
As Mojo has said normally when a court orders over child maintenance it only last for 12 months after that time either can apply to CMS, but yours may have been done differently as they even had an agency look after payments which I haven't heard of before.
.
GTTS
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