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.
