Is it time to go to Court for child support? Read this simple guide –
- Who can go to Court for child support
- Family-based arrangements
- Child Maintenance Service
- Absent parents who hide their income
- School fees, disabled children, absent parents abroad
- Absent parents who earn more than £3,000 gross a week
- How to go to Court for child support “top up”
I want to go to Court for child support
Hang on! Very few parents can do that.
Why?
Because most people have to use the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). But first visit the Child Maintenance Options site and find out the best way to agree a family-based arrangement. This is good because it’s free.
What’s a family-based arrangement?
It’s where you and the absent parent agree between you how much child support to pay. Here’s a link to an online child maintenance calculator
And if we can’t agree?
Apply for child support through the Child Maintenance Service (and pay a fee). But read on, special circumstances might apply to your case …
The absent parent will never tell the CMS their income
Don’t worry, the CMS will ask the tax man (HMRC) for details of earned income. They can also make assumptions about income if information is not available.
Yes but they’ve hidden their income
Ask the CMS for a variation of the child maintenance calculation. They will approach HMRC for details of unearned income, such as rent and dividends and interest on taxable savings. They can also sniff out diverted income.
The CMS assessment is not enough
A small proportion of parents can go to Court for child support. I set out some of the relevant circumstances below. The first question is, are you in the middle of sorting out the divorce finances?
Yes, we’re sorting out the divorce finances
Make sure you negotiate child support and include it in the Consent Order. Otherwise you will have to apply to the Child Maintenance Service. But it might be that special circumstances apply to you which mean you can indeed go to Court for child support (see below).
In the meantime please read my recent blogs about divorce finances (these apply equally to civil partnerships) –
- What Comes First, Divorce or Settlement?
- Maintenance and Clean Break on Divorce
- Financial Settlement on Divorce, How to Get the Best One for You
- Financial Disclosure on Divorce, 10 Things You Need to Know
But we never married or were in a civil partnership
It is possible to go to Court under Schedule 1 of the Children Act for child support in special circumstances. And you can make an application whether you were –
- married
- in a civil partnership
- living together
- or you never lived together
But what are these special circumstances?
School fees, disabled child, absent parent abroad …
You can go to Court for child support under Schedule 1 of the Children Act in these special circumstances not covered by the CMS:
- school fees or vocational fees
- the child is disabled
- the absent parent is abroad
Or if the absent parent is a very high earner indeed.
… the absent parent earns more than £3,000 a week
This is another reason to go to Court for child support under Schedule 1 of the Children Act.
The CMS only counts income up to £3,000 a week. So you can go to Court for a child support “top up” if the absent parent earns more. But this is only if the CMS has assessed the absent parent as actually earning more than £3,000 a week. There was a Court case, Dickson v Rennie [2015] 2 FLR 978 where the Judge said it was “crystal clear” that the CMS had to make the maximum assessment first.
How do I apply to Court?
Read my forthcoming blog for a simple guide to the steps you need to take to go to Court for child support.
Go to Court for child support
Contact Joanne Houston on 01962 217640 for free advice on all your options, including when and whether to go to Court for child support and how to go about it. In this 20 minute session we will review your situation and how you can achieve your objectives.
JUST FAMILY LAW are specialist divorce and family law solicitors offering personalised legal solutions. We offer collaborative law which is especially relevant in providing solutions tailored to your family’s needs. This includes same sex couples and their families. The topics covered in this blog post are complex and are provided for general guidance only. Therefore if any of the circumstances mentioned in this blog have application to you, seek expert legal advice.
image Family by Anna Logvinova on Wikimedia
