How To Unravel The Difficult Issue of Who Pays For University and College Costs For Your Kids!
How much child support does a parent have to pay when their children are attending college or university?
The answer, unfortunately, is not as straightforward as you might think.
Hi, my name is Thomas O’Malley. I’m an experienced family lawyer in Durham Region and the GTA.
Here are some general principles that will help you:
When a child who is over the age of majority is attending college or university and is still living at home, the payor parent (the parent paying child support to the other parent) will have to continue to pay child support to the other parent based on the Child Support Guidelines as though the child were under the age of majority.
When the adult child is attending college or university and is living away from home, the payor parent will most likely not be required to pay the full amount of child support to the other parent based on the standard Child Support Guidelines amount.
The next issue is who is responsible for paying the adult child’s educational expenses, such as tuition, books and other education-related expenses.
Courts will generally require that the parents should share post-secondary educational expenses in proportion to their incomes after deducting the contribution, if any, of the child. The court will definitely look at the contributions that an adult child can make to their post-secondary educational costs.
An adult child could have some assets in the form of investments and savings in their bank account.
An adult child will not be required to contribute all of their investments towards their post-secondary education before their parents must provide a contribution towards these expenses.
However, an adult child will most likely be required to make some contribution out of their capital.
Many parents negotiate a settlement or separation agreement in which the parents together are responsible for two-thirds of the child’s university costs and the adult child is responsible for one-third of these costs.
The parents’ responsibility for these university costs is based on a proportionate to income basis.
For example, if an adult child’s university or college costs were $10,000 for one year, the adult child would be responsible for paying approximately $3300 of these costs, that is, one-third of $10,000.
The parents would be responsible for paying the remaining $6700 on a proportionate to income basis. If the father made $60,000 a year and the mother earned $40,000 a year, their total annual income is $100,000. $60,000 is 60 per cent of $100,000 and $40,000 is 40 per cent of $100,000 so that the father would pay 60 per cent of $6700, that is, $4020, and the mother would pay 40 per cent of $100,000, that is, $2680.
I will continue this important discussion of child support and university expenses in another video.
Take some time to discuss this important issue with your family lawyer.
If you have any questions about your separation, divorce or family law case and you would like our help, there’s a few ways to contact our office. You can leave a message on my Facebook law office page, visit my website at www.canadiandivorcelegaladvice.com, or call me directly at 905-434-8837.
We would be happy to speak to you.
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