[HelloFred]

My wife has been separated from her ex for over eight years now. Her daughter lives with us full-time. The ex has a history of paying child support reluctantly; seeking every opportunity to reduce or avoid it. My wife's daughter attended a college diploma programme that was paired as a pre-requisite for switching to a University to continue in their business program. This plan was done with the full knowledge and "support" of the ex. The diploma portion is two years; the university degree another three. She has just started the University portion. Now the "ex" announces that because she has her college diploma, he no longer has to pay child support even though we all knew she would be in school for 5 years due to the linked programme. He claims the "first diploma" rule is absolute; I have been told this is a "situational" thing and he has no right to make an arbitrary decision like this. Can anyone clarifiy this for us. She lives at home with us while going to school. His financial situation is far greater than ours so before we risk a costly legal fight we would like to try to get as much information input as possible.

This decision by him is further compounded by the fact he has been refusing to pay for any of the daughter's post-secondary eduction (and his other two children as well) leaving us to struggle to find the funds to allow them to continue their education. He has adopted the position that he wants them to "earn their education themselves" to avoid having to contribute himself. This is despite the fact his income is over three times that of my wife's and his household income at least twice that of ours.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.