Secondary education - maintenance

Hello Rfowler

Any Consent Orders that were endorsed after March 2003 are not legally subject to change unless they have been in place for at least 12 months. After 12 months, either parent can apply to the child maintenance Service and the Consent Order will no longer be valid. However, if a Consent Order dates back to before April 2003, then law does not allow parents to change over to the Child Maintenance Service. Only the courts can arrange child maintenance in such circumstances. You may wish to seek further legal advice as to where you stand regarding your payments.

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.

For further information on when maintenance ends and what courses are classed as full-time non-advanced education, you may find the following link useful www.gov.uk/when-child-maintenance-payments-stop

For more information on the different ways to set up child maintenance and for a more personalised service, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options website at www.cmoptions.org

The DWP 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.wikivorce.com/divorce/Sorting-Out-Separation.html

Regards

William