After fighting for child support and for my X to contribute to my oldest child's post secondary education costs my daughter has announced that she dropping out of University. She attended the fall term from Sep to Dec of this year but, withdrew when the term ended. My X now feels that because of her decision that I owe him for the months of support he paid from June to December. We have a legal agreement that states if the adult child (she is over 18 now) finishes high school in June and attends post secondary in Sep of the same year that support is to be paid for the summer months. As mentioned she did attend University from Sep to Dec therefore I was entitled to support for these months. I told my X that our daughter is not returning to school in Jan and asked that we work out new, lower support payments beginning Jan 1 onward. We have two other children in elementry school therefore I am entitled to some support for them. My X resents having to pay support at all. That said, it's my understanding that I was entitled to support for the summer months and for as long as my daughter was enrolled in University. Am I wrong here?
Child support adult child withdraws from University
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bigboysdad
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Hmmmm...I'm GUESSING that the paid support for those months in school will stand.
I think ur right .
I think ur right .
Thanks for responding! I think I'm right too. I may owe him some money for December as this is the month in which she withdrew although the term did end that month too. If however I do owe him something for December I accept this had will pay him back accordingly. I am trying to be fair and reasonable. I informed him of my daughter's decision in a timely manner. My daughter has agreed to provide him with her marks for the fall term and the documentation showing the date that she withdrew. I know he's upset that we both paid tuition for the fall term and this money has been lost due to her decision to drop out however; this is a different issue and again he was ordered to pay support for as long as she is enrolled in school or until she ceases to be a child under the act. Her dropping out means that she ceases to be a child therefore he is no longer obligated to pay unless she returns to school before the age of 22 as per the agreement. Again I feel that I did the right thing by informing him right away of her decision, by trying to avoid legal costs to us both by working out a new CS arrangement between the two of us (we have 2 younger children) and that I don't owe him anything for the summer months or for the months she was enrolled. Thanks again for your response 
standing on the sidelines
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I think you are on the right track but to me he should not have to pay anything more for her if she goes back to school. She did it and dropped out so why should he be on the hook if she decides to go back again??
If our daughter decides to return to school full time and she still lives with me full time he is obligated to contribute to educational costs and to pay support until she reaches the age 22. We agreed to this in legal doc's and to my knowledge this common. For example, if she decides to attend college instead of University and enrols in full time study this coming Sep while continuing to live with me full time then CS would be reinstated beginning Sep 1. Under this type of circumstance she would again be considered a child under the act therefore CS applies.
standing on the sidelines
New member
i see where you are coming from, im just saying that he may say that his obligations are done as she enrolled and dropped out. He may use the defence that she did and did not stay in school so he should not have to pay. Did it cover what happens if she drops out and then re-enrolls later??
This is the same situation we are in, except my husband is the payor. The adult child attended college full-time in the fall (Sept-Dec), and he paid CS for those months. The child flunked out, and has now withdrawn. We are not asking she reimburse us the monies paid during the semester, as we believe it stands because the child was in school. But we are not paying her any more. DH is going to speak to a lawyer regarding getting a new court order terminating CS, since he is not in school and he is working full-time although he is still living at home with his mom. The original court order we have does not specify a termination/end date but our lawyer had advised us to stop payments if he was graduated from high school and not attending full-time post-secondary.
I don't believe your ex has a legitimate argument. Your daughter was in post-secondary school until Dec and dropped out. The way I see it, he was responsible for CS until she ceased being a post-secondary student; this means until Dec 2011. IMO, the fact that she dropped out doesn't mean that the NCP gets a refund. I'm not aware of any legislation that warrants this. Using his logic, the CP has to absorb all the costs of a child being unsuccessful in university. That's non-sense.
standing on the sidelines
New member
to me once the child either withdraws from school or flunks out then that should be it for child support, even if the child goes back to school.
Berner_Faith
New member
Agree with standing...the child went once and dropped out, that should be it for cs but if you can't work it out between you two then court may be the option
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