Child Maintenance Advice

Child Maintenance and Financial Support Solicitors

This is a highly complex area of the law and it is essential that advice is sought very early on, as under or overpaying could impact significantly on your case.

The needs of the children are the court’s paramount consideration.

Divorce Settlement

The court does not automatically have jurisdiction over children maintenance. For parents who are or have been married, financial provisions for children could be taken into account as part of the divorce settlement.

Child Maintenance Service (CMS)

All parents have a responsibility to provide financially for their child even if they live apart from the child and the other parent.

Child maintenance payments can make a significant difference to a child’s well-being and the quality of family relationships. Child maintenance is financial support income parents provide for their children when they separate.

It can help with a child’s everyday living costs and give them the best start in life.

Child maintenance can be agreed upon voluntarily between parents.

If an agreement cannot be reached, then an application can be made to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) – a government body that considers the paying parent’s income and can make a mandatory requirement that he or she pays child maintenance to the other in a child maintenance assessment.

Schedule 1 Children Act 1989

Under certain circumstances, the court can make orders about payments for children under Schedule 1. The court can make the following orders:

This act empowers the court to make one or more of the following financial orders:

Child maintenance (in addition to the maximum maintenance as assessed currently by the Child Maintenance Service), which can include the cost of a nanny, school fees, and (in some cases) the costs of university education
A capital lump sum for costs directly referable to the child (for example, the purchase of a car or the costs of equipping the child’s home)
A transfer or settlement of property for the purpose of providing a home for the child during their minority (which will mean that once the child completes their secondary or tertiary education, the property which was transferred or settled will be returned to the parent who funded or provided it).

When making a decision regarding the appropriate level of financial provision for the child, the court considers the following: