Periodical payments for children

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The basis of Duxbury calculationsA Duxbury calculation is an actuarial calculation designed to identify the capital sum required to meet a periodical...

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Emergency prohibited steps and child arrangements orders

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Working with counsel

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Child Arrangements Programme—the procedure for section 8 applications

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Most recent Periodical payments for children content

Practice notes

Child support—general considerations

This Practice Note details the jurisdiction in relation to child support, via the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), and in limited circumstances via...

16th Oct

Precedents

Standard order 2.1—financial remedy order—omnibus

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Child maintenance provisions via the court

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Q&As

Where parties agree a clean break upon divorce, what is the position with regard to child maintenance, and will that continue to be paid?

A clean break involves the dismissal of the claims by each spouse or civil partner against the other for financial remedies on divorce or dissolution....

Produced in partnership with Ruth Cabeza of Field Court Chambers 29th Sep

Q&As

The parties agreed child maintenance in 2007 through a family based agreement for two children, who are now age 16 and 21. The 21-year-old completed their full time education in 2017. At some point, the paying parent’s income increased, and the parties are agreed that a sum may be owing as to the difference between the sums paid and the amount that would have been calculated by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). Could the CMS be asked to calculate arrears as to the difference between the sums paid and the sum that would have been paid had a calculation been made on the basis of the increased income, and if so for what period of time? If not, what other remedies may be available if the matter cannot be agreed?

In this Q&A, neither parent applied to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) for a maintenance calculation in respect of the children. If an application...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 29th Sep

Q&As

Can a child maintenance claim be made for a child who is age 17 where the parents agreed that a claim would not be made, and the child sometimes splits their time equally between the parents?

Crozier v Crozier is authority that while the parties can achieve a clean break between themselves, they cannot do so in respect of their child, see...

29th Sep

Q&As

Is a self-renewing child maintenance order (commonly known as a ‘Christmas order’) contained in a consent order made in financial remedy proceedings enforceable in the event of non-payment by the payer?

Section 4(10)(aa) of the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991) provides that where the court has made an order for child maintenance, neither party can...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 29th Sep

Q&As

Can the court make an order in financial order proceedings on divorce or dissolution for the payment of university fees for a child of the family who is over the age of 18?

The position is not straightforward, and potential options will be dependent on the facts of the case.Section 23(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973...

Produced in partnership with Richard Colbey of Lamb Chambers 28th Sep

Q&As

Where an order has been made for child maintenance to be paid until the completion of secondary education, can the child subsequently make an application for maintenance if they then decide to go to university?

Where there is an order for child maintenance, whether agreed between the parties and incorporated into a consent order or ordered by the court by...

Produced in partnership with Tori Adams of 4 King’s Bench Walk 28th Sep

Q&As

Can arrears of maintenance more than 12-months old be enforced? Do time limits also apply to an order for periodical payments for a child?

Section 32(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) provides that:‘A person shall not be entitled to enforce through the High Court or [the...

28th Sep

Q&As

Where a child maintenance order provides for maintenance for a child until the age of 18, or completion of full time tertiary education (whichever is the later), and a party makes an application for a maintenance assessment by the Child Maintenance Service on the expiry of one year after the making of the order (in accordance with section 4(10)(aa) of the Child Support Act 1991), can the court order be resurrected at a later date if the children go to university?

By virtue of section 8(5) of the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991) (as amended by section 26 of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act...

28th Sep

Q&As

Where there is a dispute as to who the child will live with and an application for a child arrangements orders is pending can a decision by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) be delayed? Will the resident parent’s income be relevant for the CMS calculation? Can expenses incurred for contact and expenditure on the child be deducted from the maintenance payments?

Section 4 of the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991) provides that an application for a maintenance calculation may be made to the Child Maintenance...

28th Sep

Q&As

If a financial consent order is silent as to school fees and a spouse wishes to make an application for the other spouse to pay schools fees, is the application commenced by filing a Form A and what is the court fee payable?

Section 23(1)(d) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) contains the principal power to make ‘school fees orders’ on divorce; the section...

Produced in partnership with Nicholas Starks of St Ives Chambers 28th Sep

Q&As

Can a party send copies of documents that were annexed to the Form E filed by the other party in ancillary relief proceedings to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) with the aim of contradicting information provided to the CMS by that party, or is the ancillary relief information confidential? What are possible consequences of the information being sent to the CMS?

Relevant legal provisionsRule 29.12 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955 provides that no document or copy of a document filed...

Produced in partnership with Charmian Jackson of St Ives Chambers 28th Sep

Q&As

A financial order between former spouses makes provision for periodical payments for the children. The Child Maintenance Service has not been asked to make a maintenance calculation and the paying spouse now lives in another jurisdiction. Can the paying spouse make an application for a downwards variation of the order?

The Family Court has jurisdiction under section 23 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) to make an order for periodical payments in favour of...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 28th Sep

Q&As

Where the parties have reached an agreement regarding child maintenance and wish an order to be by consent made reflecting that agreement, will a maximum Child Maintenance Service (CMS) calculation be required for the court to make a top-up order? Where the paying party’s income is such that it would result in a maximum CMS calculation, if one were made, will the consent order need to include a separate order as to child maintenance plus a top-up order as security?

The court will not have jurisdiction in relation to child maintenance unless section 8 of the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991) applies. An...

28th Sep

Q&As

Where an initial child support calculation has been made by the Child Maintenance Service (which is subject to appeal), can the court make an order by consent pursuant to section 8(5) of the Child Support Act 1991 and Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989, where the parties agree to such an order?

Child maintenance is, as a general rule, governed by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the court does not have jurisdiction to make any order in...

Produced in partnership with Tori Adams of 4 King’s Bench Walk 28th Sep

Q&As

Is it possible to seek a refund of payments of child maintenance where the payer has now discovered that they are not the biological father of the child concerned?

This Q&A presumes that maintenance has been paid as a result of an assessment by the Child Support Agency (CSA) or Child Maintenance Service (CMS).A...

28th Sep

Q&As

Over ten years ago, provision was made by an undertaking within a financial order for the paying party to pay child maintenance to the parent with care until the child reached the age of 18, ceased full time education up to a first degree level, or further order. The child ceased education and is now in paid employment but is considering attending university. If the child re-commences their education, can the undertaking for child maintenance be reactivated?

An undertaking is a solemn promise to the court that a party do or not do something. A breach of an undertaking may be enforced by an application for...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 28th Sep

Q&As

Can a relative who does not have day-to-day care of a child who has attained the age of 18 and who is in full time education at a college (less than A level equivalent), claim child maintenance on behalf of that child?

Statutory child support is dealt with under the provisions of the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991), which provides at CSA 1991, s 1(1) that for the...

28th Sep