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Hi guys a question needing answered if you can.
Its prob been covered but no idea where to start to find the answer.
My son turned 18 in January and has been at college 3 times a weeks for the past 9 mnths(not uni),he may also be starting work placement this week for the remaining 2 days of the week,fingers crossed he gets the placement.
I currently dont pay child support through the CSA but have a private arrangement with my ex and pay £110 per mnth plus additional expenses for my son if required,im not sure if i still need to be paying this towards my ex or if i can stop these payments.
I honestly dont mind paying the payments but now starting to feel the cost of living leaving me broke near the end of the month,iv not missed a payment in 15 yrs and have always managed to just get bye,but now as i mentioned life is starting to feel the pinch,im still not sure what " full-time non-advanced education" means is this still at school or would my son being at college still mean i am liable for any payents.
Any reples would be helpfull guys
Hi there
If the system in Scotland is the same as in England then full time non advanced education is when a child is in education up to and including A levels or attends college. BTEC courses excluding higher level and some apprenticeships are also covered. University is counted as advanced education. The full time requirement means a child must attend for 12 hours a week or more, anything below that isn't counted.
As you have a private arrangement it would be best to try and reach agreement with the mother. If you stop payment she may go to the CMS and open a claim against you. If she is still receiving child benefit the CMS will consider this as proof that she is entitled to maintenance.
Check out the stickys at the top of the Child Maintenance section, you should find the information you need there.
Hi wonderbhoy1888
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I will provide some information that may help answer your query.
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. You can find more information on when child maintenance stops on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/when-child-maintenance-payments-stop.
However, you have mentioned that you have a family-based arrangement in place with your ex-partner. With this type of agreement, there are no strict rules to stick to. Therefore, both you and your ex-partner have the freedom to decide terms of your own arrangement, such as when your child maintenance will stop.
A family-based arrangement can include money and other kinds of support, such as you directly paying for things that your son may need. Even though family-based arrangements are not legally-binding, many parents prefer them because of their flexibility and how easy the arrangement can be reviewed, such as if you or your ex-partner’s circumstances change. You can find more information on family-based arrangements on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/family/index.asp.
To help you with your family-based arrangement we have a range of tools and guides on our website ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/toolbox/index.asp). These include our discussion guide which you can use to help you plan your conversations around child maintenance. We also have a family-based arrangement form that is not a legally-binding document, but if used to write down what both of you have agreed, it can help to formalise your arrangement.
To give you an indication of how much child maintenance that may be calculated if you were to use the Child Maintenance Service, we have an online calculator on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator/. Some parents use the figure provided when working out a figure for their family-based arrangement.
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
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