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  • Resp

    During marriage we took out an RESP for each kid. Payments were made for approximately 4 and 1yr respectfully.

    Post separation, ex insisted to continue making payments for about a year. I made periodic inquiries with the institution to ensure these policies remained in good standing. I discovered on two separate occasions that they were in default due to lack of payment. The first time, I confronted my ex. He vowed to catch up on the payment, said it would never happen again, and insisted on staying on the policies. The second time he agreed to take his name off the policies and I caught up on the payments.

    I have been the sole owner and contributor for these RESPs for 10+yrs now. I have also started a RDSP for my youngest who will never attend post-secondary school.

    My question is how do I ensure if my eldest child decides to attend post-secondary school, I can use this RESP as my contribution? Ideally I would want to use both RESPs for the one kid.

    It would be great if ex continued contributing so that this could be a joint thing which we would mutually benefit from but it hasn't. He makes more money than I do yet I chose to sacrifice in the name of savings and he chooses not to. I just have a hard time seeing the fairness if my ex getting equal benefit from my saving.

  • #2
    The only way to ensure anything like this is to either have it in a signed, notarized separation agreement, or to have it incorporated into a court order.

    If your ex is being generally reasonable about section 7 expenses, then just ask how he imagines helping the kids through post-sec, and then suggest getting an update to the agreement. This may open a can of worms even if he is generally agreeable.

    Unless you are having enough issues with CS and section 7 already to justify a motion, I would not go to court just over this.

    Now, the question of what is fair, and what a court decision might be.

    First, how much is RESP going to be worth and will it be enough to cover the child's expected needs?

    In our case the RESP will be substantial and will cover all or most of our kid's education needs if they are living at home and studying at one of the nearby universities or colleges. So there may not be much more to cover anyway.

    In such a case, would you want the other parent to still pay 1/3, and have much of the RESP go unused? That would seem a bit absurd.

    Let the RESP represent the child's contribution, and the parents can split any extra expenses proportionately. So how much extra would this be? If the child is still living at home and transportation is minimal, and they expect to have a p/t job and summer work, you are looking at maybe $5k tuition and books; more or less depending on the school and the program. So really, is it worth going to court over what would likely be a minor amount split proportionately between you?

    It would be different if the child is living in another city and has significant housing and transportation costs. Are you able to predict with fair certainly where the university will be and what program?

    Comment


    • #3
      Thanks for your response Mess...

      When going thru the divorce I did ask my lawyer about financing post secondary and my desire to use the RESP as my proportionate to income calculated contribution. The lawyer strongly recommended we not make any mention of the RESP. He said not to worry because it would count as my contribution and mentioning it now could just "open a can of worms". He made it clear that settling was far superior to trial.

      Ex is not reasonable with S7s in my opinion. His standard response is always a hostile claim that he cannot afford it. More often than not he would simply not pay and I'd find some way to cover the expense. This had been the case with daycare, therapies, braces, glasses, etc. It is because of this difficulty that I have S7s built into my support thru FRO. Having FRO involved has me receiving some money but I am now faced with ex not providing me with his tax return and NOA to ensure the amount collected is fair and accurate. He was supposed to provide these to me by May 1st... I'm still requesting and waiting.

      As I had previously mentioned, my plan is to combine the RESPs from both kids to help finance the oldest. Reality is that the youngest will never pursue post-secondary schooling. It is just very recently that the oldest has expressed a desire. This is why I have been thinking of this lately. For many years now it just did not seem likely that either kid would pursue post secondary studies.

      Since this fall my eldest has come a along way... Happier, doing well in school, and has begun to plan for the future. A huge personal accomplishment. Only time will tell if this trend continues but I want to be prepared either way.

      Schools and programs of interest are across country and/or overseas. School will not be cheap if this is the path followed. I have very little but do know how to make my dollar stretch. I will do whatever I can to support both kids to the best of my ability regardless of where life takes them.

      Comment


      • #4
        Well, my opinion is that when the time comes your ex won't want to pay anything. Your choice will be to go to court, or just pay it yourself out of the RESP. So again, how much would you presume to be going to court for? If the child's expenses will be just tuition and books, and they will continue living at home, and CS will continue to be paid anyway, is it worth going to court?

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by smileandwalkaway View Post
          ...
          Post separation, ex insisted to continue making payments for about a year. I made periodic inquiries with the institution to ensure these policies remained in good standing. I discovered on two separate occasions that they were in default due to lack of payment...
          These do not sound like your typical RESPs from a standard bank or financial institution. You cannot default on a RESP. This sounds like one of those "scholarship" savings RESP contracts. Hopefully one of your kids goes to school, so you don't get hit with your contract fees.

          Comment

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