paying maintenance once child is 20yr and at UNI

Hi I have been divorced for 18yrs and have always paid and helped my ex and kept our agreed maintenance payments for the 18yrs now my son is at UNI and is 20yr my ex is saying i still have to pay until his uni course ends which is "Degree based" I also pay his car insurance and when he needs money - she said as he has a student loan based on her lower income i still have to pay till he completes his course ? is this correct ? she said this afetr her new ex which she now has 2 children with isnt paying anything and spoke to CMS but she does have a habbit of lieing to get what she needs ro just need clarity many thanks

CMS stops either at the end of secondary education or when the child is 19, whichever is earlier. The only possibility is that you agreed in a Consent Order to pay until the end of tertiary education, so maybe check your paperwork.

One thing I would do though if you do have to carry on paying is stop paying extras for your son. Explain that because of the consent order you have to pay via Mum but she has the money. No harm in him learning his Mum is a leach now he's an adult.

If you have a consent order check the wording. A lot used to say payable to end of first degree. If that’s the case then unfortunately it is too late to end it by applying to CMS as that ends at the end of non advanced education.

Thank you for info we didn't draw up any consent orders it was a mutual quick two separation divorce so was quite easy I have spoken to a solicitor "FREE advice" and they seem to say the same thing as my son is now 20 any orders to pay money would now have to be sent by my son as he is now deemed and adult he wouldn't do this as we are close and i always help him out regardless just the ex trying to keep her money flow from me like a salary. shame as she knows im good for it so I think is telling me CMS have said i have carry on i've not had the convo with her yet so i don't think that will go down well and shell prob say thats not true so im still a bit worried not knowing 100%. thanks for your help

thank you for the info

I wouldn't bother having a conversation with her. Just stop paying her and let her bring it up if she wants to. Surely now your son is an adult you can just block her on your phone and ignore her?

Yes this is true I've tried to keep an open channel as when we split so the children didn't get effected. even though I've had this advice im still slightly worried she could be right CMS wise but then maybe that's gas lighting effect i just don't want any surprise from CMS after the fact as they can take at source (salary). who knows