A RAGING dad has been ordered to sell his car if he can't find the money to help pay his daughter's way through university.

A federal magistrate slammed the father's "unrelenting diatribe" in court against his daughter - he had claimed she should "quit being a student and sweep streets".

In an unusual claim for a child against a parent, the woman pursued her father for money that a court had decided in 2010 was due to be paid until she finished her first tertiary degree.

He was told to pay the woman $84.40 a week, but he met those payments for only about three months.

Federal magistrate Philip Burchardt's latest order was for the man to pay the amount as a lump sum of nearly $5500. And if he couldn't meet his obligations, he could sell his car.

Mr Burchardt said the case was "very regrettable".

"The extreme dislike that clearly pertains between the daughter and her father is as obvious as it is unfortunate".

"Putting (it) shortly, he repeated complaints made in the previous hearing about his daughter's failure to be a good daughter to him," Mr Burchardt said in the court document.

"It is not possible to characterise his diatribe as anything other than a rage-filled series of insults."

Among other insults, the father described his daughter as a "stranger trying to hurt me" and "I don't know her. I've had enough of her. I wish she would bugger off".

Mr Burchardt said: "At one stage I had to leave the bench to give him an opportunity to compose himself."

The $84.40 a week was to add to the daughter's $200 weekly income.

The man did not detail anything that challenged his daughter's claims about her income.

But documents were tendered showing a substantial decrease in the mortgage that had previously been owed by the father.

Lawyer James Turnbull, of Berry Family Law, said most claims for adult child maintenance were made by the supporting parent.

Applications from an adult child were uncommon because of the cost of litigation compared with how little they were likely to gain, and the damage that could result to the parent-child relationship.

lamperdr@heraldsun.com.au

Originally published as Angry dad must pay uni fees - court