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Hi first time on my son who is 16 not in full time education not claiming child benifit when will my csa stop to his father they say i still pay untill he is 18
Hi there,
is he in education at all??
GTTS
Hello Roxy
Thank you for your post. I am Sarah, the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I understand your 16 year old son is no longer in full-time education and his father is no longer in receipt of Child Benefit for him. You would like to know when your payments stop.
If your payments are made through the Child Support Agency (CSA), they state that child maintenance must be paid by the paying parent to the receiving parent until the child turns 16 or until they reach 20 if they are in full-time education (not higher than A-level equivalent). If your child is no longer in full-time education you can ask the CSA what information they will accept that proves your child has left education. You can find their contact details on any letter they have sent you, or this website http://www.gov.uk/childmaintenance provides their contact details. In the meantime, you may wish to contact your child's last school/college and ask them for written confirmation that they have left education.
In some cases, children are still classified as being in education until the start of the new educational year (usually September) so you may have to keep paying up until that point.
If you have a family-based arrangement in place, you and your son's father can decide the terms of your family-based arrangement between yourselves and when payments will end. If you are unable to come to an agreement you can use the guidelines set out by the CSA. A family-based arrangement is not legally binding but it is flexible to meet the needs of parents if their circumstances change.
If you pay child maintenance through the courts, then you will need to seek legal advice. Community Legal Advice is a Government funded confidential legal service. You can find further information from their website at: http://www.direct.gov/legaladvice.
If you have any further questions, you can visit our website at www.cmoptions.org or call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on Saturday.
Hope this helps.
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