Irrespective of Parental Responsibility, both parents are
legally responsible for the financial costs of raising their children. Upon a
relationship breakdown, arrangements for the children’s safety and well-being
should be the first consideration.
Sometimes the danger is that parents can use their children to direct
their feelings/emotions onto the other parent.
One of the first things a parent without residency of
children should do is make financial provision for the children of the
relationship (known as child support or child maintenance).
If possible, both parents should be able to agree on a
private arrangement for this. This
agreement can include details of maintenance payment, which parent is
responsible for what aspect of the child’s life, access arrangements etc. Don’t just make a verbal agreement however make
sure everything is documented and signed by both parties.
If you agree maintenance payments in this fashion, don’t
pay your ex-partner in cash unless they are prepared to sign a receipt saying
that they have been paid child maintenance money. Make sure that you can provide an audit trail
of your payments. The reason for this is
that your ex-partner may deny receiving these payment and if you can’t prove
that you have made them, you will have to make them a second time. Ideally, pay the child maintenance by Bank
Transfer so that you can evidence that on a certain day every month you paid
the agreed amount into an agreed account.
Importantly, if your ex-partner refuses to accept
voluntary child maintenance payments, don’t accept this, At the end of the day,
the payment isn’t to your ex-partner but for your child. When your child is old enough to understand,
your ex-partner could use this to poison your child against you…”they were
never bothered about you….they never even gave any money for you..etc.” If you find this happening, open up a
separate Bank account and deposit the money in there that you would have given
for Child Maintenance. One day, your
child will ask you why you didn’t contribute.
You will then be able to say that your ex-partner said they didn’t want
payment, however you didn’t accept this and placed the money regularly in a
bank account which you then hand to your child.
Initially, me and my ex-wife went down this route whereby
we agreed a set amount for maintenance, access, and shared parental
duties. However, when I changed jobs I
suspected she thought she might be financially better off if she arranged maintenance
payments through the Child Support Agency.
The downside about this approach is that a financial assessment is made
and enforced within any condition being made for access/visiting rights. The amount of times children stay overnight can be taken into
consideration but it doesn’t entitled
the parent paying child maintenance to automatic access of their children.
Currently, there are three statutory child maintenance
scheme being used to work out maintenance payments. They are run by either the Child Support
Agency (CSA) or the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
These are
- The 1993 Scheme
run by the CSA
- The 2003 Scheme
run by the CSA
- The 2012 Scheme
run by the CMA
At
the moment only a few people are on the 2012 Scheme but it is intended to
extend and gradually replace both the 1993 and 2003 Scheme.
For now,
there is no charge for using the CMS to make a maintenance arrangement.
However, in the future, you’ll have to pay a fee when you apply unless:
- you’re
aged 18 or younger, or
- a
victim of domestic violence.
If the CMS arranges maintenance, they will make a calculation based on
legal rules which take into account:
- the
income of the parent who should pay maintenance
- the
number of qualifying children. These are the children you are caring for
- the
number of relevant other children. These are other children that are also
being supported financially.
The calculation doesn’t take into account the income of the parent with
whom the children reside or how much you actually need to bring up the
children. The amount that parent gets will be fixed. However, the CMS will
review the calculation each year.
If the CMS works out maintenance payments, it should take about four
weeks to set up the arrangement.
The parent who pays maintenance will usually have to make regular
payments directly to the other parent, either monthly or weekly, usually into a
bank account or by money transfer. This is called Direct Pay.
However, if Direct Pay is not suitable, the CMS can collect payments
from the other parent and pass them onto you. This is called Collect
and Pay. For now, this service is free, but eventually the parent paying
maintenance will have to pay a fee for this. If you're getting maintenance by
this method, you'll eventually end up with less money.
If you’re the parent who should pay maintenance
arranged by the Child Support Agency (CSA) or the Child Maintenance Service
(CMS), and you don’t pay, they can take action against you to make you pay.
This is called enforcement action.
The Child Support Agency (CSA) or the Child Maintenance Service (CMS)
can try to recover arrears of maintenance in the following ways:
- take
money from earnings. This is called
a deductions from earnings order
- take
money from benefits. This does not apply to arrears under the 1993 Scheme
- take
money from a bank or building society account. This is called a deduction
order
- apply
to court for a liability order. If a liability order is
granted, they can refer the case to the bailiffs who could come and take property
away to be sold to cover arrears and costs
- apply
to court for a charging order to force the selling of
property and use the money to pay off child maintenance arrears.
If all other enforcement methods have failed, the CSA or CMS can apply
to court for the non-paying parent to be disqualified from driving or sent
to prison.
The CSA or CMS also have the power to apply to the High Court to prevent
a person from getting rid of property or transferring property if they believe the
reason that person is doing it is to avoid paying child maintenance.
If a parent disposed of property to avoid paying maintenance, the CSA or
CMS can apply for an order to cancel the sale or transfer. This is called an
order to set aside the disposition.
However, the court can't set aside a disposition if it was made:
- for
a reasonable payment, and
- to a
person who acted in good faith who was not aware of your intention to
avoid child maintenance payments.
I hope that this outlines clearly rights and
responsibilities as they relate to Child Maintenance in the UK. The important advice for both parties is Keep a record of everything including any contact
you may have with CSA/CMS.
How to contact CSA/CMS:
Child Support
Agency Helpline
Telephone: 0845 713 3133
Textphone: 0845 713 8924
Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm
Saturdays, 9am to 5pm
Telephone: 0845 713 3133
Textphone: 0845 713 8924
Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm
Saturdays, 9am to 5pm
You’ll need your National
Insurance number and date of birth when you contact the CSA/CMS
Nice article on child support. The interest of the child should always come first after separation.
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