Most private schools have already closed for the summer holidays, and fees for the autumn term will be due in a couple of months’ time.
It is possible for a judge to order that school fees should be paid in addition to child maintenance. However, when parents separate, their financial resources have to stretch to meet the cost of purchase and running costs of two households. School fees may be an expense that one or both parents are no longer willing or able to meet.
The continuity of attending a particular school may be very important for a child who is also dealing with the separation of their parents, and perhaps a change in their home and the time that they spend with each of their parents. As a result, we often find that parents are keen for their children to continue to attend private school and are willing to reduce their own house purchase cost and outgoings so that they can afford to do so. It is not always affordable for a child to continue to be privately educated, and where that is the case, the court will not make a school fees order.
It is sometimes affordable and appropriate for a school fees “fund” to be created from the savings of the divorcing couple, with some or all of the school fees being paid from that. However, this would mean a reduction in the money available to meet the parties’ housing requirements, and so it is usually more appropriate for school fees to be met from the income from a high earning party.
Where a higher-earning party is willing to agree to meet future school fees, consideration should also be given to how those may increase throughout the child’s education, as well as the “extras” that may be added to the bill.
Where a child does have to cease private education and attend a state school, there may be a dispute between the parents as to which school the child should attend. The court can make that decision, but not within financial proceedings. A separate court application would be required. There is often a deadline for school applications, and the court backlog is incredibly long. As such, a court decision is unlikely to be made in time for the school application deadline. Parents should therefore think about alternatives to court, such as mediation or arbitration. We are able to offer direct consultation with a child during mediation.
As above, a court can order that school fees be paid in addition to child maintenance. The court can only make an order against a paying parent’s income that is in excess of £156,000 gross per year. The Child Maintenance Service deals with child maintenance against income below that level, and there is a set formula (an online calculator can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintenance). Where a child boards at school, the Child Maintenance Service may discount up to 35% of the school boarding bill (just the boarding element – not the education element) from the paying party’s income before the calculation is made. In addition, when determining which is the parent with care (i.e the parent who will receive the child maintenance) the CMS will consider where the child would have lived if they did not board, and not which parent the child actually spends more nights with. This may create an odd outcome where the paying parent has stayed closer to the school, but the parent that the child spends more nights with has moved further away, perhaps due to financial reasons. In that situation, the parent that pays the school fees may be able to claim child maintenance from the other parent.
For more information or to find out how we can help you, please contact our Family Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.