Child Maintenance – What are my options?
12 Apr 2022
The Child Maintenance Service, known as the CMS, deals with the majority of instances where child maintenance payments are needed. Parents can apply to the CMS for a child maintenance assessment which specifies how much they are to pay or receive.
Where there are divorce proceedings, parents can agree a Child Maintenance Order, which specifies the sum that one parent is to pay the other in child maintenance. This is usually a sum that is higher than the CMS calculation.
However, in most cases, after 12 months, one of the parents can apply to the CMS for an assessment. There is therefore a risk that the paying parent will apply to reduce the monthly payment of child maintenance.
The CMS calculation only includes income of the paying parent up to £3,000 gross per week. Therefore, if the paying parent earns more than this, the receiving parent would have to apply for top-up maintenance.
In limited circumstances, parents (whether married or unmarried) can also make an application under Section 1 of the Children Act.
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If you would like any advice about child maintenance, or any other family law issue, please contact us for a free 30-minute case review.