Divorce settlements and private school fees: Ensuring your child's future

The debate between divorcing parents about whether or not their child should attend private school - and who should 'foot the bill' - is not a new problem. However, parents are increasingly concerned about securing their children’s future at their school or university following divorce. Perhaps the cause is rising school fees, the seemingly ever-increasing cost of tuition fees, or the government’s proposals to remove the exemption from VAT for independent school fees. The need to ring-fence wealth in a divorce settlement to ensure that one’s children can stay in their school or university of choice is a pressing concern for many clients. Indeed, many parents' friendships and social life are centred on their child’s current school. Change can be difficult for parents and children, and we at Tees are here to help your family find the best way forward. 

Our experience 

Some parents face difficulty with providing for school fees as part of their divorce settlement because the Court will always prioritise on the basis of needs, and outside of the usual child maintenance provision. School fees are often perceived as a luxury in the Court’s eyes that, unfortunately, many cannot continue to afford once their essential needs have been met on divorce. 

Clare Pilsworth, Partner at the Tees Cambridge office, advises that “The Court does not prioritise school fees, and will treat the expense as a decision for that individual after they have met the expense of housing.”

With that said, “needs” are not the same for everyone. Depending on what the extent of the families’ outgoings and what their intentions were and have been, the Court will take different views on a person’s or child’s needs. 

Indeed, the Court has historically criticised parents for not continuing to pay school fees where the family had previously covered said fees, and could continue to afford to do so: “[The Respondent] sententiously expressed the view that what children need is love and time.  Actually, like everyone else, they also need money.” (K v D (Parental Conflict) (2015) para 20). 

Even in circumstances where one’s financial circumstances have changed substantially following divorce, it is not without precedent for a Court to approve an order for school fees to be paid: This does of course come with the caveat that “both [Parents] have to make sacrifices as a result” (WD v HD (2015) para 56 Moor J Judgement). 

Call our specialist solicitors on 0808 231 1320

Financial Remedy Consent Order – school fees

Reassuringly, most cases are resolved without a Final Hearing, in which case a divorce settlement will be enshrined in a ‘Financial Remedy Order’. This is an agreement reached outside of Court (but approved by a Judge) between you as to how your wealth should be divided on divorce. Therefore, no matter how the Court would decide your case and providing you and your former partner are still in agreement, it is largely up to both of you how you wish to divide your finances. Therefore, if you are both in agreement then the arrangement can usually continue. If you and your ex are struggling to reach an agreement between yourselves there are various methods of non-court dispute resolution which can be utilised to try to reach an agreement outside of Court that you both feel best works for your family.

Varying a current Order

If there is an Agreement or Order already in place, and you are struggling to make payments due to a change of circumstances, you can apply to the Court to vary the Order. If this is something you would like to discuss with us, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Steps to take now

Reaching a final divorce settlement can take some time, but there are some ways you can assist your child and your school before this stage:

Firstly, keep your school in the loop: it may be that the school or university invoice is addressed to both you and your ex, which means that you are both liable. If the payment has historically been made by your partner, you may wish to inform the school of your change of circumstances and ask that invoices are sent to them in the future. If your partner refuses to pay these fees, you may wish to consider a maintenance pending suit application which – if successful - could order your partner to pay the costs until the final settlement.

If you decide that you both would struggle to pay the school fees going forwards, your school bursar may be able to help you and suggest a reduction or postponement in fees. If no postponement is possible and there is no viable way for the school fees to be paid in the future once your needs have been met, you may need to consider alternative schools. If this is the case, then be sure to give your school plenty of notice that your child will be changing schools, so you are not liable for the next term’s fees. 

Lastly, seek expert advice. Here at Tees we help many parents with securing their children’s school fees as part of the divorce settlement. 

We're here to help

Our family and divorce lawyers are based in:

Cambridgeshire: Cambridge
Essex: Brentwood, Chelmsford, and Saffron Walden
Hertfordshire: Bishop's Stortford and Royston

But we can help you wherever you are in England and Wales.