Disputes Tribunal orders dad to pay $6500 in school fees after he ignored payment requests for five years

A father did not pay his son's school fees during his five years at a state-integrated secondary school.

A father in financial strife has been stung with a $6500 bill after he thought he had found a legal loophole to avoid paying his son’s school fees.

While the man had signed the enrolment form for the state-integrated secondary school, he intentionally did not sign the attendance dues form.

Now, the school has taken the man to the Disputes Tribunal to claim more than $6000 in attendance dues accrued over the five years the man’s son attended the school.

The man’s name and school’s details were redacted from the recently released decision.

According to the tribunal, the man was experiencing financial difficulties at the time and could not afford the fees for his son’s education.

He told the tribunal he was not liable to pay the attendance dues as he never signed the form, which also did not specify the amount he needed to pay.

The school submitted it allowed the boy to continue attending as Ministry of Education guidelines stated a student could not be refused enrolment if a parent had not signed the form.

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After considering the submissions, tribunal adjudicator Sarah Simmonds found the unsigned form was irrelevant.

“A contract can be fully oral, it can be part written and part oral, and offers can be accepted by conduct rather than words,” Simmonds said in the ruling.

The man had signed the enrolment form, which stated a condition of enrolment was paying the attendance dues, she said.

“Accordingly, I find that in signing the Application for Enrolment Form [the man] entered into a clear and binding written contract to pay all attendance dues,” Simmonds said.

“I also find that because [he] says he knew there were attendance dues, by sending his son to [the school], his conduct showed he was agreeing to pay these costs.”

As for the fees being unspecified, Simmonds said that all attendance dues were published in the New Zealand Gazette, and the school’s website had further information.

Simmonds said the school did all that was reasonable to make parents aware of its fees, and if the man chose not to read information, “then that was his risk, just as is the case when a person signs a contract without reading it”.

The man was ordered to pay $6500 to the school for the five years of outstanding fees.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.