SA Should Ex be Involved in School Reports?

[Kristin]

Hi

My husband and I are separated. I am working three jobs to send our daughter to private school. He refuses to pay any financial support (though does pay minimal child support) toward her education. The school is saying he still has to legally receive notifications and school reports from them. This does not happen at her current school.

As he will not support her going to this new school, I don't think he should be involved in correspondence. There are no court orders in place - what is the legality of him receiving reports, etc, even though he has no interest?

 

[sammy01]

You have no obligation to provide them... You could, just to be nice.... He can contact the school and request reports, etc. be sent to him and there is nothing you can do to stop that.

He is paying child support in accordance with the rules. That is all he has to do.

 

[Kristin]

Hi Sammy, thanks for your help. I appreciate it greatly. The school is saying they legally have to provide these regardless if he requests them or not. I guess that is my real question - is this an accurate statement, because, it does not happen at her current school.

 

[sammy01]

I am a public school teacher in a public school in NSW... In my experience, schools don't wanna get involved with family law matters. These days teachers are getting trained to talk generically about kids home life and never ever assume a kid lives with mum or dad... It is a mess.

So schools make policies which are the path of least resistance. If they don't give report to dad they could be accused of preferring one parent over another. So they make a policy keep them out of trouble. So my kids live with me. My ex needs to contact the school to inform the school of her address. Then they will send her reports. Works well. She no longer asks me for reports - so one less thing for me to talk to her about.

Now is it worth applying to court over any of this? Nope - BTW, your ex pays child support. Half your luck. I'm the primary carer of 3 young kids. Child support paid in the last 2 years? Zero.

 

[Rod]

And a father has as much right to school reports as the mother, regardless of who pays. Could be a mother wanting reports and the father paying the school fees. Issue is about the well being and development of the children, not who pays the bills.

 

[AllForHer]

"As he will not support her going to this new school, I don't think he should be involved in correspondence."

First, if he doesn't consent to the choice of new school, then it's understandable that he won't pay for it, either. Agreeing to share costs is one of the usual benefits of consulting and reaching an agreement jointly about such decisions.

Second, in the absence of Court orders to the contrary, he has equal shared parental responsibility, which means he has equal say about major long-term decisions affecting the kids, including educational matters. As such, he is entitled to be as involved as you are in their schooling, and receiving report cards and other documents forms part of that entitlement. It doesn't matter that you don't think he should be involved in correspondence. The fact of the matter is that he is legally can be - even if he refuses to pay for private school - because that's just part of him retaining parental responsibility as a legal presumption.

Third, if it's the school that's doing all the work to send this correspondence to him, it shouldn't really bother you at all that he's receiving it. To the contrary, it would ordinarily be the case that a parent will see benefit in both parents being aware of what's going on with their kid at school.

Fourth, as someone else pointed out, there is no such thing as 'minimum child support'. There is only 'child support', because it's assessed according to a formula and so long as he is paying the assessed amount, he's meeting his financial obligations.

 

[Kristin]

Thanks all, appreciate your help and clarification.

 

[Corinne]

My partner emailed his son's principal and requested reports to be sent to him. Haven't seen one yet and we know they've been issued. Must be a legal obligation that's never enforced.

 

[WhatNow]

"As he will not support her going to this new school, I don't think he should be involved in correspondence."

First, if he doesn't consent to the choice of new school, then it's understandable that he won't pay for it, either. Agreeing to share costs is one of the usual benefits of consulting and reaching an agreement jointly about such decisions.

Second, in the absence of Court orders to the contrary, he has equal shared parental responsibility, which means he has equal say about major long-term decisions affecting the kids, including educational matters. As such, he is entitled to be as involved as you are in their schooling, and receiving report cards and other documents forms part of that entitlement. It doesn't matter that you don't think he should be involved in correspondence. The fact of the matter is that he is legally can be - even if he refuses to pay for private school - because that's just part of him retaining parental responsibility as a legal presumption.

Third, if it's the school that's doing all the work to send this correspondence to him, it shouldn't really bother you at all that he's receiving it. To the contrary, it would ordinarily be the case that a parent will see benefit in both parents being aware of what's going on with their kid at school.

Fourth, as someone else pointed out, there is no such thing as 'minimum child support'. There is only 'child support', because it's assessed according to a formula and so long as he is paying the assessed amount, he's meeting his financial obligations.

Question,
What if hes not meeting his financial obligations? Can anything be done about that... Im talking, at least 5 years worth of not paying anything.
Child support did investigate and garnished his wage but he quit that job after the 1st payment was taken out

 

[sammy01]

Might be best to start your own thread 'whatnow' - but to answer your question. IF the ex is intent on getting out of paying he will find a way. But his failure / refusal to pay does not invite you to find ways to punish him...

So for example, if the non-primary carer has quit a job, or done something else to avoid paying and as a result the primary carer decides to stop facilitating contact between parent and kids and the non-primary carer took it to court, the magistrate would not be all that interested in child support payments....