Question regarding termination of daycare contract

[Praline]

I'm almost in a similar situation. We are thinking of changing daycare providers for our son and I am trying to figure out how much notice we would need to provide. It's our first child and I think we went into this and signed the contract a little quickly without thinking about whether we may need to change care providers. The contract is pretty vague (to me) and does not consist of any clause about ending early, etc. The contract says:

This Agreement is for one year commencing: _January 20, 2015_

Payment is by enrollment and will not vary for 52 weeks of the year. This means that payment is expected whether the child is in attendance or not. Caregiver is paid for her 3 weeks holidays and 3 sick/other days per calendar year.

This is all there is in the contract regarding payment and its length. From this I'm not sure what our options are...any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Suzie_Homemaker]

I'm almost in a similar situation. We are thinking of changing daycare providers for our son and I am trying to figure out how much notice we would need to provide. It's our first child and I think we went into this and signed the contract a little quickly without thinking about whether we may need to change care providers. The contract is pretty vague (to me) and does not consist of any clause about ending early, etc. The contract says:

This Agreement is for one year commencing: _January 20, 2015_

Payment is by enrollment and will not vary for 52 weeks of the year. This means that payment is expected whether the child is in attendance or not. Caregiver is paid for her 3 weeks holidays and 3 sick/other days per calendar year.

This is all there is in the contract regarding payment and its length. From this I'm not sure what our options are...any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Some provider have these annual contract to provide them with chance to review and make changes annual. Some have contract which is on-going and details how to give notice and how notice of change will be given.

For most provider, we have starting contract which evolves over time as we faced with situation we not considered in beginning. It might be your provider copied this contract from internet and not considered what policy is if someone leave mid-year. It also might be that they have limited knowledge of writing contract/own dayhome and so think that parent able to commit to full year.

Like you, they might not have noticed this missing from their contract if situation not arose yet - this could be if newer provider.

The only way to know what options are is to speak to your provider. We can only guess the intention behind it as can you. Just ask her how you submit your notice if your situation changes and how much notice is needed. Had you both lost your job 2 weeks into this contract, it not reasonable that you would have been obligated to continue paying for care for another 50 weeks at full cost. Ask her and go from there.

Any contract can be challenged in Small Claims Court. If she says that you must pay for full year, and you refuse, she can take your to court and you will get chance to explain to Judge why you think it unfair. But in most cases, a signed contract over rides everything else because it's your responsibility to make sure you understand and agree. However, if a Judge feels language wasn't clear or contract was unreasonable, they might rule in your favour.