Windsor Solicitor - Child Maintenance, Prenuptuals, Wills, Divorce, Inheritance, Family Law, Employment Law and Civil Litigation

Court Orders for the Maintenance for Children in Ancillary Relief

The Child Support Agency must deal with all Child Maintenance against NRP (non-residential parent) unless there is a prior agreement in writing for child maintenance between the parties.

Child maintenance will also be under the courts jurisdiction if:

The parents have not yet separated or are still living at the same address
The matter involves step children
If the children are 18 or over
If a parent does not live in the UK or is employed overseas by a UK registered company or the Crown

In all other cases the Child Support Agency has jurisdiction to deal with maintenance for children:-

Under the age of 16 or
Under the age of 18 but still in full time education or
Under the age of 18 but satisfying certain conditions about being available for work and training.

Maintenance is calculated at present based on a calculation taking account of several factors:

the NRP’s after-tax earnings
the number of nights the children spends with absent parent
how many children there are
The NRP will pay

15% of their net weekly income for one child,
20% for two, and
25% for three or more.

The CSA can make an assessment to a maximum of up to £2,000 a week. A top-up order from the court may be obtained if the non resident parents wages are higher than this.

In addition the court can make orders for school fees and special needs of disabled children.

Enforcement of CSA payments

There has been a lot of controversy over collection of CSA payments. The government introduced a White Paper in parliament in December 2006 with new measures to enforce assessments including for example:

Naming and shaming non payers on the internet
Withholding passports
Penalties for non payment

> Return to main Children Matters page