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  • Child support during university

    Back on this forum after 5 years...ex filing motion again for court. Looking for advice/experience and caselaw regarding CS continuation once the children are at university and living AWAY from home. Both of my kids will be attending university this fall.



    Currently have an amendment to my agreement that states I will receive CS for oldest daughter (full CS in summer months and 50% during the school year). Ex has been following this and paying for last 2 years. Youngest now set to attend University in Sept and ex wants to ONLY pay full summer months for her. Huh? As an aside...I am paying 50-50 section 7 university costs despite what should be 28-73 split. This is due to RESP funds which are considered the "child's" despite 100 percent allocation through my budget.



    Questions:
    1. Any precedent set for treating second child the same as the first?
    2. Are RESP funds ever considered right of the parent not child and therefore allocated to income split?

    3. Amendment is signed and witnessed but not court ordered. Ability to stand up in court?



    Thank you!

  • #2
    My oldest son is at University and doesn't come home in the summer, his dad has to pay full CS amount 12 months of the year in addition to 50% of all S7 expenses, my youngest is at home but in college and his dad has to pay full CS amount 12 months of the year in addition to 50% of all S7 expenses, he took me to court this last winter to have this changed but it was help up by the judge, FRO enforces it

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by CarolynR View Post
      My oldest son is at University and doesn't come home in the summer, his dad has to pay full CS amount 12 months of the year in addition to 50% of all S7 expenses, my youngest is at home but in college and his dad has to pay full CS amount 12 months of the year in addition to 50% of all S7 expenses, he took me to court this last winter to have this changed but it was help up by the judge, FRO enforces it


      Does he earn more than $150,000 per year? Did the judge provide any reasoning behind this argument?

      Comment


      • #4
        No we both make almost the same amount, about $60k a year. This was all a part of our original separation agreement which we both voluntarily agreed to and when he tried to have it changed a 1.5 years later the judge said he saw no material changes in his circumstances that warrant a reduction in what he has to pay. In fact my youngest took a year off of college for health reasons and his dad stopped paying his CS which I didn't fight at the time because I was more concerned with my sons health, and when he took me to court to reduce his payments his application was denied and he was ordered to pay the outstanding child support and S7 expenses for my son while he was home sick. He has since started back to college.

        In his application he also tried to force my son to move in to residence at college instead of living at home with me, so that he wouldn't have to pay for 50% of his car expenses to commute to school and he lost that bid too.

        The last thing on the order was our agreement said that we would both leave our children on as beneficiaries of our life insurance until they are done school so that one of us doesn't have to struggle on our own to pay for their school costs if something happens to the other parent. When he met the second last GF he made her beneficiary within a couple of weeks of meeting her and the judge made him show proof that he changed it back to the kids and would not change it again until they are done school.

        Comment


        • #5
          Ah ok that makes sense. You had it in your agreement and it was still new. Does the s7 expense include residence fees or just tuition?

          Most agreements (if the parties are smart) outline cs changes should a child attend school away from home. For agreements that aren’t clear on it, the decisions have erred on the side of not paying. Almost every case I have seen where the payor makes significantly more, cs was ordered through the year.

          Again though, case by case basis.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by CarolynR View Post
            My oldest son is at University and doesn't come home in the summer, his dad has to pay full CS amount 12 months of the year in addition to 50% of all S7 expenses, my youngest is at home but in college and his dad has to pay full CS amount 12 months of the year in addition to 50% of all S7 expenses, he took me to court this last winter to have this changed but it was help up by the judge, FRO enforces it
            wow did Dad ever get shafted here.

            Comment


            • #7
              The S7 expense includes everything, the rent for his apartment, cable, hydro, tuition, groceries, general living expenses, even tenants insurance for his apartment and transportation costs to take the bus to come home and visit me on holidays.

              It also includes mileage for me to take my other son to his doctors appointments before I bought him a car, half of the cost of the car, maintenance, insurance, gas, etc.

              I learned at a young age because of my own parents messy divorce to be smart and leave emotions out of the picture when going through the legalities of a divorce. I was working with a lawyer long before he knew that I figured out he was cheating. I had everything in order the day I confronted him. Everything was done to protect my children's interests so that they could finish their education without disruption.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by standing on the sidelines View Post
                wow did Dad ever get shafted here.
                What a ridiculous misogynistic statement? We both make the same amount of money and both pay out the same amount for our kids, that's why the S7 expenses are 50/50. He doesn't pay a dime more than I do.

                Comment


                • #9
                  He actually did get shafted. He’s paying for minute expenses that would not be considered s7 (cable, internet, living expenses) in addition to paying you cs for a kid who isn’t living at home. Some would argue you are double dipping.

                  You also didn’t mention that the kids pay anything towards their expenses which also demonstrates an unfair agreement.

                  However, while it is argued dad got shafted, the opposite argument is that you were smart enough to make sure everything was covered and did your homework. I don’t feel sorry for him since he had poor legal advice and didn’t work out the agreement the way it should have been written.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by rockscan View Post
                    He actually did get shafted. He’s paying for minute expenses that would not be considered s7 (cable, internet, living expenses) in addition to paying you cs for a kid who isn’t living at home. Some would argue you are double dipping.

                    You also didn’t mention that the kids pay anything towards their expenses which also demonstrates an unfair agreement..
                    He's paying me CS for a child who doesn't live at home but that money goes directly to that sons rent ($990/mo) and I match it, then the balance is split 50/50 as part of the S7 expenses. So no I'm not double dipping. In fact in the end I give the kids a lot more money on a regular basis when they need extra cash for odd expenses.

                    They both work part time only when not in school to pay for clothes, entertainment and extras such as cell phones.

                    We discussed and agreed on the terms of the separation agreement so I'm not sure why everyone suddenly says he's getting shafted? He signed the papers and he is a big boy. With regard to paying so much of the kids expenses, that was always our intentions for when the kids went off to school. We wanted them to focus on their studies first and we would pay their bills. I realize some parents don't agree but that was our personal choice and I wasn't about to let a divorce change all that.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      It kind of is double dipping. C/S is to cover the costs of the children in a way that would be similar to their lifestyle if the parents remained together. So the things you mentioned here "cable, hydro, groceries, general living expenses" would all be included in child support and are not s7 expenses. Tuition I cut out of that list as it is s7. The tenant insurance would be something the child should cover as it is their expense.


                      I hope you don't take offense to us saying that. And if your ex agreed to it, well, I guess they are stuck. But that is not what would generally be ordered in a situation where none of that was previously set out. Normally c/s would be reduced for the period the child is away, and than the costs of schooling would be split in 3. 1/3rd to the kid, the remaining 2/3rds the parents would split proportionally to income (in your case it it would be 50/50, given you say incomes are near the same).

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by HammerDad View Post
                        But that is not what would generally be ordered in a situation where none of that was previously set out. Normally c/s would be reduced for the period the child is away, and than the costs of schooling would be split in 3. 1/3rd to the kid, the remaining 2/3rds the parents would split proportionally to income (in your case it it would be 50/50, given you say incomes are near the same).
                        The only remark I'm offended by is someone saying my ex got shafted. He isn't a victim here, he knew what he was signing and was in total agreement with it.

                        My son was already away at school when we separated and the CS amount was determined. When we went back to court my son was still at school and the judge upheld the CS amount. My son hasn't lived at home in 3 years.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          You can be offended—he did get shafted but he did it to himself. For divorced parents, they pay cs for a kid at home and then shared the s7 expenses which do not include a lot of what you listed and the kids pay a portion. I have a feeling he got legal advice after the fact which is why he wanted to change it.

                          I am also surprised that at a household income of $120,000 a year you were going to pay all of these expenses. I have friends and family members who were unable to afford that expense and their kids were not eligible for OSAP. Its noble and I hope your kids realize how fortunate they are and don’t squander the opportunity.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by rockscan View Post
                            You can be offended—he did get shafted but he did it to himself. For divorced parents, they pay cs for a kid at home and then shared the s7 expenses which do not include a lot of what you listed and the kids pay a portion. I have a feeling he got legal advice after the fact which is why he wanted to change it.

                            I am also surprised that at a household income of $120,000 a year you were going to pay all of these expenses. I have friends and family members who were unable to afford that expense and their kids were not eligible for OSAP. Its noble and I hope your kids realize how fortunate they are and don’t squander the opportunity.
                            Thank you and you're very close. He had a fight with one of the kids because they didn't want to meet his new girlfriend so he decided he wasn't going to pay anything at all right as their semester was starting. I filed with FRO to have the CS enforced and that's when he got a lawyer. That was 16 months after we signed the agreement. He was also mad that he wasn't allowed to make the GF beneficiary of his life insurance so that's when he took me to court.

                            My kids are incredibly grateful and work hard because of it. They are both set to graduate in April and I have no regrets about investing so much in to their future. I gave them the opportunities that my mom, a single working parent of 3 kids, never had a chance to give me.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by CarolynR View Post
                              Thank you and you're very close. He had a fight with one of the kids because they didn't want to meet his new girlfriend so he decided he wasn't going to pay anything at all right as their semester was starting. I filed with FRO to have the CS enforced and that's when he got a lawyer. That was 16 months after we signed the agreement. He was also mad that he wasn't allowed to make the GF beneficiary of his life insurance so that's when he took me to court.

                              Yep that would do it!!

                              Comment

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