Insights

Does the Court consider Child Maintenance on Divorce?

As a rule of thumb, generally no.  The Child Maintenance Service deals with claims made by a resident parent against a non-resident parent.  It should always be considered a matter of last resort and wherever possible, parents should work out between them the appropriate maintenance required for the up keep of their children.  There is no requirement to go to the Child Maintenance Service.

Clean Break orders as a general rule do not apply as far as child maintenance is concerned because if there is disagreement as to Child Maintenance, this is the remit of the CMS.   There is however an exception to this where pt in cases where the non-resident parent is a high earner, earning over £156,000 gross per year.

Even where the Court makes an order in respect to child maintenance, any such term will only bind the non-resident parent for one year (12 months), irrespective of what the financial order may state.  As the CMS retains jurisdiction for child maintenance, a clean break order does not bring an end to a non-resident parent’s responsibility to pay maintenance for their children moving forward.    Where (in circumstances of a high earning parent and an Order has been made re child maintenance) , after 12 months have passed from the date of that order, either party is in a position to apply to the CMS for a reassessment of the non-resident parent’s child maintenance liability.

If you need advice, contacting us is simple; call now on 0333 231 6405 where a friendly member of our team will be happy to help.  Otherwise you can contact us via  admin@cjch.co.uk or view of easy to use website at www.cjchsolicitors.co.uk