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If my child is over 18, do i need to keep paying child support to his mother, or can i pay it directly to him? What is the legal position? It seems weird to continue paying it to his mother (when she probably spends it on items for herself), now that he's legally an adult.
Unfortunately it's tied in with child benefit, but If he has left full time education then maintenance payments would then stop. At this point you could then start giving him an allowance directly if you wanted to.
Hello Georgieporgie
Under the Government’s rules, child maintenance should be paid until a child is 16 or until 18 if still in full-time, non-advanced education. Full-time is classed as a minimum of 12 hours per week and non-advanced is classed as anything up to and including A-level standard or equivalent. As mentioned previously, maintenance payments do run in line with Child Benefit, so if that is still payable, maintenance is also. You can find more details about that issue here https://www.gov.uk/when-child-maintenance-payments-stop.
If you have your own family-based arrangement in place, it is up to the two of you to decide what your maintenance includes and when it ends.
You can find information about all the different ways maintenance can be arranged on the Child Maintenance Options website http://www.cmoptions.org.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a new web application, '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 www.cmoptions.org/en/sortingoutseparation/index.asp.
Regards
William
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