Child Care Solicitors

The breakup of any relationship is always difficult and often involves sensitive negotiations, especially when there are children involved. One of the most divisive issues can be around custody and the subsequent payment of maintenance but what can you do to make a fraught situation go smoothly and save your children from long-term damage?

Keeping a clear and level head during these times is essential, as is making a formal legal agreement. If you do not have one, either partner can just stop paying when they feel like it.

One only has to look at the latest high profile legal battle in the world of the Kardashian’s to see how nasty things can get.

American model Blac Chyna recently claimed that her children’s fathers, Tyga and Rob Kardashian, are refusing to pay child maintenance despite being worth $5 million and $30 million respectively.

Chyna has complained of having to sell three of her five cars, which included a Rolls Royce and a Ferrari, in order to provide for two children. The reality star reports that she is ‘single with no support’. The fathers argue that they care for their respective children on multiple days of the week, and pay up to $40,000 in school fees every year.

As is the way when you are a wealthy celebrity, the Twitter keyboard warriors love to have a say and critics of Chyna question the necessity of child maintenance where a parent plays an active role in the child’s life, by caring for them part of the week and providing by other means such as clothing and schooling.

Although Chyna and Kardashian reached an agreement on care arrangements for their daughter, Dream, in 2020; their dispute on financial provision is ongoing.


What are the options here in the UK?

Coming to an agreement in England and Wales the law is as follows:

- Private Agreements

You can choose to come to a private informal agreement with your ex-partner without involving the courts.

However, this agreement will not be legally enforceable, meaning your partner can stop making the payments whenever they choose to and the agreement can be changed at any time.

- Child Maintenance Service

A private agreement may also be made via the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), a government agency. This is a formal agreement.

CMS will calculate what payments should be made, taking into account both you and your partner’s circumstances and can then enforce the payments if they are not made.

However, you will need to pay a £20 application fee to CMS (unless you are a victim of domestic abuse) and CMS will take 4% of the child maintenance payments.

- Applying to Court

If you are unable to come to an agreement or you do not wish to go through CMS, you can make an application to the court for child maintenance. However, this will be a far more costly route.

The parent who does not have the day to day care of the child will be ordered to pay the parent who does.

The court will look at two things: your income and things that affect your income, such as mortgage payments, loans and debts.

Any court order which is made will last until you child reaches 18, unless they are still in full time education.


What do I do if my partner refuses to pay the child maintenance?

If you have an informal agreement, you should get a formal agreement via the CMS or court as soon as possible.

If you have a court order in place, you can make a claim via the court, instructing a solicitor.

If you have an agreement with the CMS, they can ask the court on your behalf to take away the other parent’s assets to clear the debt.

If this does not clear them, they can ask the court to take away the other parent’s passport or driving licence, or possibly even hand them a prison sentence.


Claims for Financial Provision

You may also have a claim against your ex-partner for financial provision. This is a separate payment made alongside your child maintenance. For example, this may involve asking the court to order your ex-partner to pay for your child’s school fees or a professional training course.

A solicitor will make a claim on your behalf under Schedule 1 Children Act 1989. The court may order for your ex-partner to pay you a lump sum, make regular payments or transfer some of their property to you to provide for your child.

Not everybody is a multi-millionaire or owns five cars they can sell off to fund their child’s schooling. But it goes to show that the issues are the same, however much you have in the bank, and the need to come to a sensible, fair and legally binding agreement on child maintenance is an increasing fact of life for any separated parents in the UK.


If you are affected by any of the issues in this article please contact the experienced solicitors in the family and child care team at Duncan Lewis, who will be able to advise you further if you wish to make an application for financial provision.


About the author: Claire Wells is a dedicated caseworker in our Manchester-based family and child care department who specialises in public law children work, child contact matters and divorce. Contact her for advice via email on ClaireW@duncanlewis.com or telephone on 020 7275 2578.