Mature child support

[Odenslund]

Hello, everyone!
I am divorced, my child is in Year 12 at school and my ex announced me that starting with the end of the school year, he will not contribute financially to the support of our child, even if she will study full time next year. My question is: is it normal? He told me that in developed societies (we live in Australia) children are not supported by their parents after they finish high school, even if the children study full time at university and do not have enough time to work full time to support themselves.
My daughter has her own bank account (she is 18 ) and her father sends there his child support.
I wonder if our children, once they finish high school, are entitled to receive help (the parents being divorced or not) when they (the children) still study full time and work very hard to get good results in order to have a good start in life.
Would you, as a parent, refuse to help your child when he/she still studies full time and needs financial help?
What do you think?
Could you tell me your opinion, please?
Thank you very much!

[annedougherty]

Was he already paying court ordered child support? If so, bow long he has to pay may already be in the papers. My ex husband worked in the family courts, and yes it's quite common for payments to continue into post secondary. Often, you have to go to court to stop paying when they reach 18 if you feel you should no longer pay.

[Odenslund]

Thank you for your post, Annedougherty! Officially, he has to pay until the end of this school year. After that...
Does this happen when the parents are not divorced? They stop helping their children after they finish high school? If the children still studies full time, it is obvious that they need help.

[annedougherty]

Thank you for your post, Annedougherty! Officially, he has to pay until the end of this school year. After that...
Does this happen when the parents are not divorced? They stop helping their children after they finish high school? If the children still studies full time, it is obvious that they need help.

If you have to help your child and he refuses you could always take him back to court.

[bargain_hunter_lola]

Laws in Australia are different than in Canada so what we (Canadian posters) say may not apply. You should really contact a legal source in your area.

From what I can see from a quick google search, it is lawful for a person to stop paying child support after the child's 18th birthday (see link #1). There is an application you can fill out that will request payment until the end of the school year (if for example your child turns 18 in January then you can apply to have payments made until June or whatever month the school year ends in Australia) but that needs to be completed before the child's 18th birthday.

Having said that there is something called "Child Maintenance", which is financial support for a dependant adult child that is either studying or has an illness or disability (mental or physical) (see link #2).

From what I can tell (again from a google search) you will need to apply to the Child Support Agency for Child Maintenance. Probably providing some kind of proof that your Adult Child is continuing their schooling or are disabled.

But to answer your original question, I do believe it's legal for your ex to stop paying as soon as your child turns 18.


1) http://www.diyfamilylawaustralia.com...pport_end.html
2) http://www.diyfamilylawaustralia.com...intenance.html

[Odenslund]

[QUOTE=bargain_hunter_lola;6428354]Laws in Australia are different than in Canada so what we (Canadian posters) say may not apply. You should really contact a legal source in your area.

From what I can see from a quick google search, it is lawful for a person to stop paying child support after the child's 18th birthday (see link #1). There is an application you can fill out that will request payment until the end of the school year (if for example your child turns 18 in January then you can apply to have payments made until June or whatever month the school year ends in Australia) but that needs to be completed before the child's 18th birthday.

Having said that there is something called "Child Maintenance", which is financial support for a dependant adult child that is either studying or has an illness or disability (mental or physical) (see link #2).

From what I can tell (again from a google search) you will need to apply to the Child Support Agency for Child Maintenance. Probably providing some kind of proof that your Adult Child is continuing their schooling or are disabled.

But to answer your original question, I do believe it's legal for your ex to stop paying as soon as your child turns 18.





Thank you very much, Bargain_hunter_lola! It's so wonderful to see that total strangers spend their time to help you; in my case, you searched in internet and gave me those links. It makes my heart melt, believe me, especially because I didn't know about Child Maintenance. I was sure that my ex would see what a good child our daughter is and how hard she works to do something with her life and it seemed more than natural to me that he would help her. I was thinking, also, of the ethical part of the situation, since our children are our closest relatives.
(I removed the links from the reply because the forum told me that I have to have 5 posts to be able to post links).

[Ciel]

Look into what community groups/employers/community foundations in your area might offer (i.e $500 grants or awards) to deserving students who apply to their essay contests or are involved in the community or have some connection to the groups. If your daughter is talented in the sciences, sports or maths, she likely can find scholarships to apply for to help fund her education goals. Some schools have school fairs or open houses for prospective students where you can find out about programs/financial assistance and maybe student work opportunities. She can also go to her school's guidance dept to inquire about counsellors' knowledge of any programs that could help her with tuition/living costs.

At the state or national level, are there any education ministry programs to help youth to attend tertiary education if they are the first in their family to go to uni or college? What about bursary programs/grants/tuition assistance? Don't forget to explore if banks have programs beyond their student credit card offers to help youth go to school.


In Ontario, depending on what parents (married/common-law/divorce) arrange financially, some of their new adult offspring might be expected to find funds on their own to finance any post-secondary education esp. if the parents themselves might have had to go that route to advance their prospects. Some parents may also wish not to have their incomes used in any financial paperwork. I have recently heard of such a report through a trusted person-the youth will have to pay their own way.

If there is extended family or good friends willing to help-money or if there is a program where loyalty points can be applied to education costs-that's another path to consider.

[beachdown]

I fee like you didn't answer the question about.....do married couples have to support their kids when they go to university? The answer to this is flat out NO. The law does not force married couples to pay for their kids education, but once you have a divorce situation, the courts place onus on both parents mostly, and the child (1/3 in the form of OSAP, bursaries, loans, etc) to pay Section 7 fee in family law.

OP...You asked a valid question in your first post, and am going to candidly answer it with no BS. Here goes...

I left home when I was 18 to travel the world with a ticket purchased by my parents. 2yrs later I came back home and decided to go to university using student loans and working in the evening and night. I graduated and got my first job, and years later when back and did another degree paid for the same way as before. All this time, I never went back home to live

Years later I got married, had a child, got divorced and am paying child support based on a 50-50 shared custody ( I had to fight for this) because am the highest earner. Now you can see how my past has helped make me a survivor, who doesn't sit around and expect another adult to feed me, or require handouts from the Govt. My ex who had a daughter from a previous relationship when we met, and the girl now an adult going to university, is now realizing everything I was telling her back then about work ethic.

I personally can't stand entitlement, and it seems a lot of young people and adult feel like the world owes them, and they want everything for nothing. Me and such people just do not get along. I do a lot for my child than most married couples, and I fail to see where the child support am paying monthly is going as it relates to the child.

I know a lot about family law having been through the system, and I was self represented too. Child support usually will stop in one of these instances:

- child turns 18 and doesn't go to post secondary
- child dies
- child marries
- child decides to leave home

School costs are s7. They are split depending on the courts judgement if the parties cant agree and that split is predominantly held at 1/3 to child and 2/3 split proportion to parents' income LESS all tax benefits and awards (ie OSAP 30% off).

Child support is where the 3.2(b) comes in and you use that for your argument on reducing while away at school.

This case: http://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/doc...&resultIndex=1
Spells it out quite clearly "Most courts now find the guideline amount inappropriate when a child attends university out of town and only returns home during the summer and school breaks...."

When child goes to post secondary....both parents are required to pay 1/3 each proportionate to their income, and the child pays 1/3. If a child is not in FULL-TIME education, child support stops. In Canada, there is a repository for every family law case that goes to trial (which is 4% of divorce cases), and I did everything in my power to make sure I didn't become part of that, as I didn't want my child reading about all the mud slinging.

Here is an example...am sure you guys have the same down under

http://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/doc...&resultIndex=1


I learned a lot from my divorce, and narrowly escaped paying spousal support (even though my ex worked all the time we were married), having my pension split, and paying child support for a step child who ex was already collecting on...she did come after me for it, but I was able to prove that I did not stand in place of a parent to the now 20 yr old who never called me "daddy", or have me discipline her as a couple of factors use to decide the in loco parentis test in family law.

As you can imagine now, no way would I walk into another relationship where there are kids / where the person doesn't earn as much as me / oh and they exhibit signs of being cray cray

If you have to help your child and he refuses you could always take him back to court.