Financial Applications for Child Support

When a couple with children separate, ensuring that the children are properly taken care of can be a great concern. Generally it is important to ensure that both parents play a role, not only in caring for the children but in providing for them financially.

If parents cannot agree what is fair, the parent with whom the children live may need to make an application for financial child support from their former partner.

Applications for provision for children

Whether parents are married or not, when they separate the resident parent usually receives regular child maintenance payments from the other parent, unless the children’s time is divided equally. Ideally the amount to be paid is something the parents can agree. However, if an agreement cannot be reached on the level of maintenance the first step will usually be to make an application to the Child Maintenance Agency who will set the amount to be paid.

That assessment will be binding and ensure that the non-resident parent provides fair and sufficient financial contributions to the day to day expenditure for their children. The CMA’s assessment will be based on the non-resident parent’s net income and will take into account the amount of time the children spend with that parent.

There are some situations where the CMS will not be able to set an appropriate and satisfactory figure for child support payments, including:

• The other parent lives outside England and Wales
• The non-resident parent has substantial income and additional maintenance is being requested.
• School fees and other educational costs are involved
• A child is aged 17 or 18 and not in full-time education
• A child is over 18 but in full-time education or professional training
• Maintenance is being requested to help cover costs associated with a child's disability

In those cases a parent can make what is known as a Schedule 1 Application under the Children Act 1989 and ask the court to make an order setting out the correct level of child maintenance to be paid.

Housing and Lump Sums

Unmarried parents caring for children are particularly vulnerable as they have no entitlement to claim either capital or maintenance for themselves from their former partner. Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 gives the court the power to order a non-resident parent to provide suitable housing and lump sums of capital during a child’s minority where the non-resident parent has sufficient capital to make such payments.

Help With Financial Child Maintenance Applications

With over two decades of professional legal experience, I am well-placed to help with financial applications for child support from a former partner. Whether your circumstances are simple or complex, I can provide both expert advice and practical assistance and, as a barrister and therefore a specialist in court proceedings, I am particularly well-placed to help you when circumstances call for a Section 1 Application to the courts.

For more information about the kind of help I can provide with matters relating to financial child support, please contact me.

For expert advice on applications for child support, please contact me on 07577 552908 or Email: info@dinahloebbarrister.co.uk