Another post-secondary question

[nfc4ever]

It seems to be that the standard split for post-secondary on this board seems to be 1/3 for each parent and the child (case A). Is there a case law basis for this that someone can cite?

Ex is proposing her and D15 pay 50 and I pay 50? (Case B)

My lawyer is trying to tell me 1/3 child and the balance is split like any other s7 expense, which would be 85-15 for me. (case C), but saying there is a lot of variability.

If I do the math Case B costs me 6% less than Case C

Ex earns most of her money in formats that do not hit a T4, like Child support, and foster parenting.

[SomeGuy]

I don't have an immediate answer but I am *very* interested in this. To my ex, financial management is an alien concept.... and she has rejected all my proposals to finance University. S1 is in 2nd year locally... but just moved out of the house to live with other students... and S2 is entering 1st year out of town.

I wrote up a detailed proposal which utilizes RESPs, and divides the rest 1/3 - 2/3 (70-30 split). Kids have very significant financial gifts from their Maternal Grandmother. Also formally eliminate s.3 and move exclusively to s.7. I will be putting this in as a motion to amend the divorce order.. with or without her consent... I'll keep you posted on its progress.

As others mention Lewi v. Lewi on CanLII is a pretty good backgrounder for this.

[rockscan]

Even if your ex agreed to do B you would still be on the hook for C. Unless shes proposing it because she knows with financial disclosure it would show her % as higher. That said, if you could get her to agree to a 50/50 split then go for it but get it in writing. Post secondary is all grey no matter what you do. If both parties can agree then so be it. I always lean toward listening to the lawyer though. They see these cases more than each of us individually.

[stripes]

I don't think there's any prescribed way to do this. Your lawyer's plan sounds good to me. It acknowledges that Kid is now an adult and it is reasonable to expect him/her to contribute to extraordinary expenses while also maintaining the S7 ratio, which means that (in theory) each parent contributes according to his/her ability.

Case A doesn't make sense because there's no evident reason why parental contributions to postsecondary should be shared differently from any other S7 (i.e. according to income ratio). Case A is unfounded.

Case B doesn't make sense because it rolls the kid's contribution in with one parent's, so that in practice each parent is paying 50%, with one parent (and not the other) receiving assistance from Kid. Case B is inequitable.

[Coop]

The rule of thumb is typically the child pays 30% and the remainder is paid by the parents in proportion to their income. So, for me I pay 66% and my ex pays %34

[LawHelp]

Yes I agree with Coop. Our conference judge states the same, 1/3 Rd child ( OSAP/line of credit/ loans / scholarship etc) and the remaining 2/3 split between parents according to income.

If child doesn't live at parents home them the payments go directly to child and school.

If child comes home for summer for three months them for that period child support will be paid to that parent.

If child lives at home and attends university, then c.s paid to parent and also the committee to school, gas etc shared

[nfc4ever]

Thanks everyone. @stripes - your comments were spot on with what the one lawyer told me

The second opinion lawyer had also noted to me that I should use the next 3 years to convince my D15 of the value of going to school away from home, as it would actually be cheaper to me, should the child go to school away from home.