Child Maintenance Solicitors.

When a married couple with children divorce, child maintenance is often agreed to be paid from one parent to the other for the upkeep of the children. The parent who doesn’t live with the children will be the one who pays child maintenance. Child maintenance aims to maintain the standard of living the children previously enjoyed as much as possible, and to ensure their needs are provided for.

Child maintenance covers a variety of areas, including:

• Housing costs
• Clothing, including shoes and seasonal items such as winter clothing
• Essential foods
• Educational costs including private education in some cases
• Extra-curricular activities such as after-school classes and additional academic tuition

Exactly what child maintenance covers differs from case to case, and upon the parents’ financial circumstances.

Child maintenance is normally agreed and calculated in one of 3 ways:

1. Informal child maintenance arrangements. This is when you and your former partner come to an agreement privately between you on how much child maintenance will be. These agreements are not legally binding and can be changed at any stage so may not be suitable for every couple.
2. Calculation through the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). The Child Maintenance Service is a government department which intervenes in divorce matters and helps calculate how much child maintenance should be paid.
3. Formal court order. This is normally applicable if the parent paying child maintenance lives abroad, earns a significant salary (exceeding £3,000 per week), or there are extra items that need to be paid for such as school fees.

If it’s preferable to seek a court order on child maintenance, this will normally be factored into any discussions around the divorce financial settlement.

Child maintenance is usually paid until a child reaches 16 years old. However, on occasions where the child is enrolling in higher education, child maintenance payment may continue until the child reaches 20 years old.

There are situations where child maintenance can continue over the age of 20, for example if your child has a permanent disability.

When facing a legal matter that concerns your child’s wellbeing, you must handle the case properly. Examples of child maintenance matters that a solicitor can assist with include: forming fair agreements on how much a former partner will pay, changing the terms of an existing agreement, and providing legal support if the maintenance payments have stopped.

By instructing a specialist child maintenance solicitor, it will ensure you have the following:

• A professional with experience in dealing with child maintenance cases
• An understanding of your legal standpoint and available options
• The fairest resolution for you and your child

We are currently unable to offer legal aid in any capacity as we lack the necessary legal aid certificate. We also don’t provide pro bono child maintenance work at present.