Maintenance

These orders are to be varied up or down by either the paying party or the party receiving and, if there is a failure to pay, then enforcement proceedings may be an option. However, please consider why there has been no payment as there may be circumstances which should be investigated. You might find yourself running off to court, only to find the paying could not pay. Had there been some communication beforehand, this situation could well have been avoided.

Compromise is key!

Most child maintenance will be dealt with by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS):

Cohabitation/Unmarried Families

Claims for the Children.

In certain cases, there is maintenance provision for children under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 – the Courts have the powers to make a Periodical Payments Order for a child (or children) in certain defined circumstances.

For the most part, such applications relate to parties who have not married or have formed a civil partnership and advice should be sought.

The people that are eligible to bring about these actions are:

A parent, a step-parent of the child, a special guardian, or a person with whom the child is entitled to live under a Child Arrangement Order (the list is not exhaustive).

The court, in deciding whether to exercise its powers under Sch 1 (and subject to the rules in which this law provides), will have to consider a number of circumstances. Advice should, therefore, be sought before rushing to make an application.