WA Non payment of Private School Fees

[Sunflower12]

Hi
I have a verbal arrangement with my ex that we pay 50% each for private school fees for our daughter and have done so for the past 7 years. (He has signed enrolment forms) He has always paid private school fees on top of child support.

My daughter has stopped visitation with her dad for the past year due to various reasons and since then he has stopped paying the school fees.

He has sent a Stat Dec to the school in February saying he can't pay for financial hardship reasons and the school accepted this although he earned $80,000 last year and had the capacity to pay. Now he has asked Child Support to be credited for School Fees paid as non agency payments from the date my daughter ceased visiting him.

Does he have a legal right to stop paying if my daughter has no visitation with him?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[sammy01]

A verbal agreement? He no longer agrees. His child support has gone up since child no longer visits. True...
Is there an agreement /court order about when the kids spends time with dad?

Dad asking csa to credit him for the school fees is not likely to succeed

 

[Sunflower12]

Thanks for the reply.
Yes his payment went up after I had 100% care, not enough to cover his half of private school fees though. And even less after Family tax benefit take out their cut.

I don't know if he doesn't agree to sending our child there as we do not communicate just seems he refuses to pay after no visitation.

No court orders in place however I did receive a letter from his lawyer regarding mediation over 3 months ago and nothing has been organised. He has only asked me to see his daughter twice in the past year.

 

[sammy01]

Ok so maybe you can teach me something. How come your family tax benefit went down when his child support went up?

What was the care % before the kid stopped visits?

Did you respond to the letter regarding mediation?

 

[Sunflower12]

I have no idea how family tax benefit payments work all I know is if I get more child support my payments drop. I guess if I'm getting more money to support my child through child support they don't have to pay on top off that.

Care percentage previous for him was 14%.

No I did not respond to the mediation letter as it stated they have given the information and mediation providers to him, so I assumed he was to organise it.

 

[LovingDad1973]

may I ask how old your daughter is and why visitation stopped/have you prevented the dad seeing his daughter for some reason?

As for private school fees - I don't this the father is under any obligation to pay anything over and above the CSA calculated amount.

 

[Sunflower12]

My daughter is 12 and does not wish to see her father due to his emotional bullying and general lack of spending any quality time with her. I am in no way holding her back or saying she can't go she has chosen not to see him and I won't force her.

Yes I rang CS and they have advised since I have 100% care he does not have to make school fee payments. I am now getting a reassessment done and if that fails a court order.

 

[sammy01]

I don't fancy your chances at CSA with a re-assessment, nor do I think you'll have any joy in court.

Child support is the extent of his responsibility, anything he chooses to pay beyond that is voluntary.

 

[Tremaine]

Some observations.

You’ve ignored a request for mediation. You’re also doing nothing to encourage the child to spend time with her dad. Neither of these things will go in your favour if dad decides to seek parenting orders. If your daughter says she doesn’t want to go to school anymore, do you just let her stay home? Since when do kids enjoy the privilege of picking when they get to be parented?

On the other side of the coin, admission that he can’t afford private school fees anymore won’t harm his case at all. It’s also not your place to decide if he can afford the fees, either. My partner and I both earn over $80k, but that doesn’t mean we can fit private school into our budget.

In any case, the agreement was verbal, so it’s not legally enforceable. Above and beyond child support, he doesn’t have to pay anything else.

If he no longer agrees to the choice of school, you’ll need to get a parenting order for dad to keep paying for it.

If you want dad to participate in his kid’s life financially, maybe you need to rethink your tactics about dad participating in his kid’s life physically and emotionally, as well.

 

[Sunflower12]

I have always encouraged her to go but being a teenager this is extremely difficult.
I did not ignore the mediation as I said nothing has come of it unless I was to organise it myself but that was not the instructions given.