Children Law

At the start of the long school summer holidays or just before children break up for their Christmas holidays I tend to get asked the question whether a father can stop a mother taking their child on holiday. A typical Cheshire children solicitor’s reply is ‘that it all depends’ and that’s not a cop out as when answering children law legal questions you need all the facts to be able to give an accurate answer. We Are Cheshire Children Law Solicitors If you need legal assistance or can't reach an agreement over custody and contact and want to make an application to court then the experienced team of children solicitors at Holmes Chapel and Whitefield based Evolve Family Law solicitors can help you. Contact us today. Questions about stopping holiday contact To answer the question ‘can a father stop a mother from taking their child on holiday?’ a Cheshire children law solicitor needs to know the answer to these sort of questions: Are there any existing children court orders in relation to the child? Does the mother have a custody order (also known as a residence order or a child arrangements order); Does any existing court order state what the mother is allowed to do in relation to holidays with the child; Does the mother plan to take the child on holiday abroad and, if so, for how long? Does the mother plan to take the child on holiday in the UK, and if so, for how long; If relevant, who else will be accompanying the child on holiday (sometimes the objection to a holiday is more about mother taking her new partner on holiday with her or being joined by her partner’s children); Will the proposed holiday impact on father’s contact with the child? If so, has the mother offered alternative contact; If the holiday is abroad are there any child abduction concerns and, if so, what grounds are they based on; Have there been any previous occasions where the mother has withheld contact before or after a holiday; Are there any particular concerns about the specific holiday, for example, is the holiday destination somewhere that the Foreign Office warns UK citizens to avoid travelling to? Is the holiday destination a country that isn’t a member of the Hague Convention and there are fears of child abduction; Are there any particular concerns about the holiday dates, for example, a ski trip over the Christmas period or a holiday booking that would result in a child missing a few weeks of school; Does the child already know about the proposed holiday? Do they want to go on the holiday? [related_posts] Children law and stopping a mother from taking a child abroad on holiday If a mother has a court order saying that she is a primary carer of the child (such as a custody order, residence order or child arrangements order) then unless there are any other types of court order in place to stop foreign holidays then she will be able to take the child on holiday for a period of up to 4 weeks without first having to get the permission of the father or anyone else with parental responsibility for the child. If a father has a really genuine objection to a mother taking their child on holiday abroad they could still apply to court for a specific issue order or prohibited steps order to try and stop the holiday from taking place. The court would make a decision based on what the court thought was in the best interests of the child.   If a mother takes her child abroad on holiday without the father’s agreement or court order then she might be guilty of the offence of Child Abduction in the eyes of the Court.   Nowadays most parents don’t have a court order for custody or residence or a child arrangements order. That is because the court is normally reluctant to make a children court order unless parents can’t agree on the day to day care arrangements for their child at the time of their separation or divorce. That means if either parent wants to take the child on holiday to a foreign country they need the other parent’s agreement or a court order. It is important to put your agreement in writing so both parents know what has been agreed to.   Children law and stopping a mother from taking a child on holiday in England If a father objects to a mother taking a child on holiday in England then it is often because it will impact on their contact time with the child or the child will miss an important paternal family celebration, such as a grandparent’s ruby wedding party. If there are existing children court orders in place it may be necessary for the mother to apply to court to allow her to go on holiday with the child because, for example, the court order says father is to have contact every Saturday and she plans to go on holiday for a fortnight. Whether or not there are existing court orders in place the father could apply to court for a specific issue or prohibited steps order to stop the holiday from taking place or to ask the court for additional contact to make up for the time missed with the child during the holiday.   Should you object to a child going on holiday? That is always a difficult question for a Cheshire children solicitor to answer as so much depends on the reasons why you oppose the holiday and whether you can reach a compromise with the mother. Sometimes the fear of child abduction is such that a father has no alternative but to make a court application to stop the holiday. At other times negotiations by a Cheshire children law solicitor can sort out fair holiday and contact arrangements without needing to make a court application.

A case in the papers last week brought home to me how child abduction can devastate a family through the loss of a child. After years of battling with people who were once loved ones and trying to fight your way through a legal system to get family court orders to help you recover your child the process can be exhausting. As an experienced Manchester children law solicitor, over the years I have helped many parents in their child abduction fight to recover custody of their child. I have seen, at second hand, just what a toll child abduction can take, not only on the parent but on the extended family, such as half siblings or grandparents. What was it about the child abduction case in the media that caught my eye? It is difficult to say, maybe it was her 6 year fight for the return of her daughter or it could simply be the time of the year with shops putting up Christmas decorations and thoughts therefore turning to families and home. The Case of a Child Abducted Abroad by the Father The mother in question had left her 3 month old daughter in a cafe with the child’s father whilst she went shopping. He said that he would have a coffee but instead he abducted the child to Libya to stay with his mother. 2 years later, on the father’s return to the UK, he was sentenced and served a 4 year prison term for child abduction. Now out on license and living in the UK he says that he can’t secure the return of the little girl, who will soon be 7, as it is beyond his control. The child’s mother is making court applications in the UK for an order that the father return the child to the UK or face further prison time as well court proceedings in Libya in the hope that one of the court jurisdictions will be able to secure her daughter’s return. As a children solicitor, it is my experience of representing parents in child abduction cases that makes me listen intently when I meet a parent who wants advice about their husband, wife, former partner or extended family member wanting to take a child abroad on holiday. Some parents have half formed tentative worries about child abduction that are all too easy to only half hear and ignore the signals and others have massive concerns but without any of the trigger worries. Is there a way that you can assess whether a child is at serious risk of child abduction? Sadly, in most child abduction solicitors experience there isn't although there is always a heightened concern in cases where a parent or his extended family having links to another country, the ease with which the parent could simply disappear or if there are no real ties to the UK, such as property or a well-paid career. It simply isn't possible to put children in cages to protect them from child abduction or the other ills that they inevitably face as they grow older. I do however appreciate why so very many parents worry about their child and the risk of abduction by the other parent. It is equally understandable that some separated parents, perhaps with dual citizenship or family abroad, feel that they live under constant suspicion of child abduction and that influences their relationship with the child’s other parent. Sometimes that fear can even affect the parent - child relationship if there is a really hostile environment of fear between the parents and the child picks up on that. So if wrapping a child up in cotton wool is not a practical solution what other options are there to avoid the risk of child abduction? Any specialist Manchester children solicitor will tell you that there is no one solution but that if you have any fears about child abduction you should seek legal advice on child abduction and family court orders to protect the child , such as specific issue and prohibited steps orders , as quickly as you can to try and avoid the situation arising. If it does and the child has been taken to a Hague Convention country it certainly will be easier to locate and recover the child than to a country, such as Libya, that isn't a signatory to the Hague Convention. [related_posts]

As a Manchester divorce solicitor I get asked the question ‘do I have to pay child maintenance and the mortgage’ a lot. People want to know where they stand financially if they are contemplating a separation or divorce or are thinking about leaving the family home. Read on to find out. We Are Manchester Divorce Solicitors If you need legal advice about paying child support and the mortgage or need help with reaching a financial settlement then Manchester divorce solicitors at Evolve Family Law in Whitefield can help you. Contact us today. Paying the mortgage and child support The answer to the question ‘do I have to pay child maintenance and the mortgage’ all depends on your housing circumstances and financial position. Giving expert divorce solicitor advice depends on carrying out the right fact finding to give the correct legal answer. That is because resolving financial claims on separation or divorce is a bit like putting a jigsaw together, you can't look at one piece in isolation to the rest of the picture. Questions on child support and the mortgage To answer the question ‘do I have to pay child maintenance and the mortgage’ a Manchester divorce solicitor needs to know the answer to these sort of questions: Do you own the family home either in your sole name or jointly with your ex-partner? Are you married to your ex-partner or in a civil partnership or were you in a cohabiting relationship? Are the children your biological children or your step children? Are you named on the mortgage, either as a party to the mortgage document or as a guarantor to the mortgage? Is any member of your family a guarantor to the mortgage? Is there a cohabitation agreement or deed of trust or prenuptial agreement that sets out what should happen if you separate from your ex-partner in relation to who keeps the family home and who pays the outgoings and mortgage on the family home in the event of your separation? Have you or your ex-partner left the family home already? If so, are you paying rent and what is the amount of the rent? Is the mortgage an interest only mortgage or is it a repayment mortgage? Are there any linked endowment policies? Are you already paying child maintenance under an assessment by the child maintenance service? Are you already paying spousal maintenance to your estranged husband or wife on a voluntary basis or under a court order? How much are the mortgage payments? Would the mortgage company agree to a mortgage holiday without your credit rating being affected? How much is your rent? How much is your income and how much is your ex-partner’s income? What are your current financial commitments and essential expenditure? You can see from this long list of questions that the answer to whether you should pay both child maintenance and the mortgage isn't always straight forward. The answer will depend on the status of your relationship, the way you own the family home and your financial situation. Joint or sole ownership of the family home If you are a joint or sole owner of the family home and your name is on the mortgage deed then if the mortgage isn't paid then this could affect your credit rating. That applies whether or not you are living at the family home or have moved out. When you decide to separate or divorce it is important to maintain your credit rating as the mortgage company may not agree to the mortgage on a jointly owned family home being transferred out of joint names into one partner’s name if there are or have been mortgage arrears. Equally if you can't get the family home transferred into your ex-partner’s name and your name released from the mortgage then you may find that you can't get another mortgage company to offer you a new mortgage to buy a new property. The long term implications of souring your credit rating mean that it is essential that both you and your ex-partner think about the potential long term consequences of not agreeing who will pay the mortgage on the family home. [related_posts] Rules on child support and paying the mortgage If you are paying child support under a child maintenance service assessment you may think that your child support payments should cover the cost of the mortgage on the family home as well as gas, electricity, food for the children and their clothes. The answer depends on a number of factors: If you aren't married to the child’s parent and the family home is owned in their sole name (rather than in joint names or your name) then all you are legally obliged to pay is the child support amount. With most legal answers from a Manchester divorce solicitor there is a caveat; if you are a high earner your ex-partner could apply for top up child support from the court or they could apply to court on behalf of the child for housing help. If you are married to the child's parent and the family home is owned in their sole name (rather than in joint names or your name) then if the child support payments aren't enough to cover the mortgage payments and other household bills then your spouse or ex-spouse could apply to court for spousal maintenance . This type of maintenance can be paid on a short or long term basis. To make a decision on whether spousal maintenance should be paid the court would look at both of your incomes and reasonable outgoings and your respective needs. If you are paying child support for your child under a child maintenance service assessment but you are also paying the mortgage on the family home that you used to live in with your ex-partner then provided that your ex and the child are still living at the family home you can ask the child maintenance service to carry out a special expenses variation to reduce the amount of your child maintenance service assessment. The variation application will only work if you don't have any legal or beneficial interest in the property. What are my next steps? I have only touched on a few potential scenarios and answers to the question ‘do I have to pay child maintenance as well as the mortgage‘. It just isn't possible to give an expert answer to ‘do I have to pay child maintenance as well as the mortgage’ without all the relevant facts relating to your personal and financial circumstances. When you are looking at sorting out your finances after a separation or divorce it pays to take expert legal advice from Manchester divorce solicitors as I have often found that people either pay too much in financial support (resulting in their ex-partner being unwilling to move on and sell the family home) or too little (resulting in court applications for spousal maintenance and contested financial claims). Taking expert legal advice from a Manchester divorce solicitor will help you get the balance right in deciding whether you should pay both child support and the mortgage.

If you're wondering 'what legal rights do step parents have?', we have the answers for you here. Step parents often get bad press, stepping into already made families and having to find their role. Jigsaw relationships can get very complicated with the arrival of additional children or, for example, on the breakdown of a second marriage. It is not surprising that many step parents feel that they have a lot of the responsibility for caring for step children but few, if any, legal rights.  Sometimes it is not until a step parent is challenged that they realise that the law treats step parents differently to biological parents. That challenge can be anything from nursery staff asking if a step parent has the biological parent’s authority to collect a child from nursery or the school nurse needing the biological parent’s agreement to the immunisation of a child. These scenarios are what many step parents face on a daily basis. That can be frustrating especially when one of the biological parents could be ‘off the scene’ leaving the step parent to parent the child. So what rights does a step parent have? Who is classed as a step parent? In this day and age with so many different types of relationship many people are referred to as ‘step parents’ but legally to be considered  a ‘step parent’ you have to be married or have been married to the child’s biological parent. If you are living in a cohabiting relationship with a parent of children you are not classed as a step parent but you may still be able to ask the court to make orders in your favour provided that you are considered a significant person in the child’s life, and the court gives you permission to apply for a court order. Does a step parent automatically have parental responsibility for their step children? We all know that children say ‘you can't do that, you are not my parent’ but in some situations a step parent can acquire parental responsibility for a step child. Parental responsibility is one of those legal concepts and means that an adult (normally the biological parent) has rights and responsibilities for their child, understanding what a Parental Responsibility Agreement is goes a long way to understand your legal rights as a step parents. A step parent can get parental responsibility for a child if: A court makes a child arrangements order saying that the child should live with the step parent or with the step parent and another person, such as one of the biological parents; When a step parent adopts a step child ( this type of adoption is now uncommon); When a parental responsibility agreement is signed by all those who hold parental responsibility for the child. The people with parental responsibility for the child are normally the child’s mother and the child’s biological father providing he has met certain criteria; A court makes a parental responsibility order on the application to court by a step parent. [related_posts] What Is Step Parent ‘Parental Responsibility’? Parental responsibility is about the rights and responsibilities for a child, whether the child is biologically yours or a step child. If a step parent gets parental responsibility for a child they have exactly the same rights and responsibilities towards the child as all the other people who hold parental responsibility. No one person’s parental responsibility is more important than anyone else who has parental responsibility. If there is more than one person with parental responsibility for a child and they can’t agree on what is in a child’s best interests anyone with parental responsibility can make an application to the court to decide the question in dispute by making a specific issue order. How do you get step parent parental responsibility? If a mother agrees to a step father having parental responsibility for a child the easiest way to get parental responsibility is to fill in a parental responsibility agreement. The form records that the step father of the child is acquiring parental responsibility for the child. The stepfather will then share parental responsibility with the child’s mother. If the child’s biological father has parental responsibility he will also need to agree to the step father acquiring parental responsibility for the child.    As parental responsibility is an important legal concept the document has to be a standard agreement form and signatures have to be witnessed at your local court. Paperwork confirming the parents and child’s identity also need to be produced. Do you have to pay child support if you have parental responsibility for your step child? Whether or not you have legal parental responsibility for your step child you may be asked to financially support your step child if you separate. The financial responsibility comes from the fact that you married the child’s parent and doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you have parental responsibility for the child. The child maintenance service usually assesses how much child support should be paid for a child. However there are exceptions to this rule and in the case of step parents only a family court (and not the child maintenance service) can order that a step parent contribute financially towards their step child’s upbringing.    Do step parents have an automatic right to see a child if they separate from the child’s biological parent? A step parent doesn't have an automatic right to continue to see a step child if they separate from the biological parent of the child. Some people think that is wrong but the person may not have been a step parent for very long before the marriage broke down or the child may already have a very large and complex family structure involving contact with biological dad as well as a first step dad and the various sets of grandparents and step grandparents. For a child it can be very difficult to juggle contact with family as well as meet homework deadlines and keep up with sporting commitments and see school friends. If a step parent believes that they are significant to the child and ongoing contact with the child is opposed then the step parent can ask the court for permission to apply for a child arrangements order allowing them to see the child. A court will decide on whether the contact is in the child’s best interests. For legal help with any aspect of children law please Contact Us

Parental responsibility is one of those phrases most parents think is a bit self-evident. After all if you are a parent then you have responsibility for your child. Simple isn’t it? It is only when parents separate or divorce that the vaguely heard of legal concept of parental responsibility can become a bone of contention between parents with them not always fully appreciating what the legal concept of parental responsibility is, whether they already have it and, if not, how to get a parental responsibility agreement. What is parental responsibility? At its simplest, parental responsibility is about the rights and responsibilities for your child. Many parents sail through life without needing to know about the legal concept of parental responsibility, automatically assuming that they have the right to decide on whether their child is enrolled at a particular school and that they can make decisions on behalf of their child such as whether their son or daughter should be immunised or have a haircut. In other families life isn't as simple and they need to know where they stand on parental responsibility. Who has parental responsibility? For many parents there is no need to get a parental responsibility agreement because they already have parental responsibility. Parents who automatically have parental responsibility are: ● The child’s mother; ● The child’s father if he is married to the child’s mother; ● The adoptive parents of an adopted child; ● The child’s father if he is named as the father on the child’s birth certificate (after a certain date depending on where the child was born in the UK); ● If the child’s parents are unmarried the child’s father will have parental responsibility if he registered the child’s birth with the mother (after a certain date depending on where the registration took place in the UK). How do you get parental responsibility? If a mother agrees to a father having parental responsibility for a child the easiest way to get parental responsibility is to fill in a parental responsibility agreement. The form records that the biological father of the child is acquiring parental responsibility for the child. The father will then share parental responsibility with the child’s mother. As parental responsibility is an important legal concept the document has to be a standard agreement form and signatures have to be witnessed at your local court. Paperwork confirming the parents and child’s identity also need to be produced. [related_posts] What if parental responsibility can’t be agreed? If the child's mother and father cannot agree on whether the child’s father should have parental responsibility the father of the child can apply to court for a parental responsibility court order. The court will usually grant an application for a parental responsibility order unless there are unusual circumstances resulting in it not being in the child’s best interests for a parental responsibility order to be made. Do you have to pay child support if you have parental responsibility for your child? Whether or not you have legal parental responsibility for your biological child you are still under a financial obligation to support your child .If you cannot reach an agreement over the amount of child support that should be paid for your child an application can be made to the child maintenance service. What happens if both parents cannot agree on how they should share parental responsibility for their child? If two parents have parental responsibility for a child they share parental responsibility; neither parent has more ‘rights’ than the other. If they cannot reach an agreement over the arrangements for their child, such as: ● Should the child have a medical procedure or immunisation; ● Should the child be baptised or circumcised; ● Should the child attend a religious faith school or a boarding school Either parent can apply to court for a specific issue order for the court to decide on the issue in dispute between the parents. The court will make its decision based on what it thinks is in the best interests of the child. If a father doesn't have parental responsibility for a child by agreement or court order he is still able to apply to court for orders relating to the child, such as child arrangement or specific issue orders. For legal assistance with any aspect of children law please Contact Us.

Many are unsure as to what child maintenance covers; it is defined by the government as being the ‘financial support towards your child’s everyday living costs when you’ve separated from the other parent’. Should you have a good relationship with the other parent, you may be able to privately agree a ‘family-based arrangement’ between yourselves. If this is not possible, you will need to get the Child Maintenance Service involved. We Are Manchester Child Support Solicitors If you are worried about paying or receiving child support or need help with reaching a financial settlement after your separation or divorce then the Manchester divorce and child support solicitors at Evolve Family Law in Whitefield can help you. Contact us today. Child support and shared care of the children If you have a shared parenting arrangement (the child spends the same number of nights with each parent), neither of you is obliged to pay child maintenance, even if one parent has a higher income or fewer outgoings. Have a look at our blog who pays child maintenance when you share custody for more information. What does child maintenance cover? At its simplest, child maintenance is about providing your child with the food, clothes and home that they need to thrive and enjoy the best possible start in life. Ultimately, it is up to the parent with primary care responsibilities as to how the money is spent. Child support is the legal minimum that a parent must contribute to the upbringing of their child, although they can certainly pay more should they wish. Grounds to challenge a child support assessment There are four grounds to apply for variation of child maintenance payments which are: Assets over £65,000; Income not taken into account; Diversion of income; Lifestyle inconsistent with declared income   You can read more about challenging child support in our blog ‘How To Vary Child Maintenance Payments‘.   Who is a child for child support? Child maintenance covers a child under the age of 16, and those aged 16-19 who are in full-time education and have never been married or in a civil partnership.   What is not covered by child support? As part of any child maintenance obligations under Child Maintenance Service rules, a parent is not expected to financially support any step-children. Nor is a parent obliged to contribute to private school fees. If these are a concern, the court can intervene separately if a court application is made by a parent as those decisions will not fall under the umbrella of child maintenance. When there are financial constraints, child maintenance will always be prioritised over school fees. [related_posts] How is child maintenance calculated? When a family based-agreement cannot be reached, it is up to the Child Maintenance Service to determine the size of child support payment. The agency does so by following a set method and mathematical formula.   HMRC will provide the Child Maintenance Service with the paying parent’s gross income and establish whether or not they are receiving any benefits. Any pensin scheme payments are also taken into account. Additional considerations include whether or not the paying parent needs to financially support any other children, and how many nights the child is expected to spend with them. This information then affects the rate applied to give the final payment. This assessed child maintenance figure is broken down into a weekly amount.   Should the paying parent’s gross income exceed £156,000, the court can order additional child maintenance to be paid in accordance with the child’s needs. Online calculators are available which use the CMS methodology to provide you with a rough indication of the required amount of child maintenance.   What is the Child Maintenance Service? The Child Maintenance Service is a government agency who oversees the payment of child maintenance, assessing how much an individual needs to pay and enforcing that decision if they don’t meet their payments. The agency reviews the level of payment on an annual basis and whenever they’re notified about a significant change in the paying parent’s circumstances. The Child Maintenance Service can also assist with locating an absent parent and has procedures in place where parentage is disputed.

In an ideal world, parents will agree on an the appropriate amount of child maintenance using the child support agency calculation prepared by their divorce solicitor or the online calculator on the child support agency website. Many parents use the child maintenance figures as a rough guide as to how much child maintenance should be paid recognising ,for example, that if one parent agrees to pay for all the children’s clothes, haircuts  and school trips then expecting them to pay the full amount of a child maintenance calculation may not be appropriate. In other family situations a parent will recognise that it is fair that he or she pays a bit more than the child maintenance calculation to help pay for extras such as ballet or riding lessons. Child maintenance payments should be reconsidered if incomes and parenting arrangements change. Sadly we don’t all live in an ideal world and some parents have to apply to the child support agency for an assessment of how much child maintenance should be paid. That is either because they can't reach an agreement on how much child support should be paid or payments aren’t being made. What is child maintenance based on? As a divorce solicitor I have heard parents express shock at the amount of a child support agency child maintenance assessment. Sometimes that is because the parent hasn’t appreciated that child maintenance is based on: The payer’s gross income; The number of children that the payer pays child maintenance for; The number of overnight  contact visits the payer has with the children; The number of other children living in the payer’s household. When calculating child maintenance the children’s needs and the payee and payer’s household bills aren’t taken into account in the child support agency calculation. On other occasions the shock at the child support agency child maintenance figure is based on a parent’s knowledge of their partner’s income and lifestyle. If a parent doesn’t think that a child support agency child maintenance assessment is right then they should consider: Asking the child support agency for a revision or mandatory reconsideration if they think the child support agency got something wrong such as the payer’s income or the number of overnight contact visits; Asking the child support agency for a variation; Appealing against the child support agency assessment; If parents are or were married (and there is no financial clean break order in place) applying to court for spousal maintenance. This may be an option if the amount of the child support agency child maintenance payments combined with the household’s other income or potential earnings won't meet basic needs and bills. Grounds to vary a child support agency child maintenance calculation   There are four potential grounds to apply for a variation of a child support agency child maintenance assessment: Assets over £65,000 – the payer’s home isn’t treated as an asset. The value of investments , savings and any equity in a second home would be relevant; Income not taken into account – usually this ground is used if a payer can set their own income because they are a company director and can declare dividends or use a directors loan account to fund their outgoings; Diversion of income – this ground can be relevant where a payer owns their own company and employs a new partner or family members at an inflated salary in order to divert their own income; Lifestyle inconsistent with declared income – this ground can be relevant if , for example, an income of £30,000 has been declared but the payer’s mortgage payments alone are believed to amount to £24,000 per year. This ground won't work if the payer is financing his lifestyle from gifts from his parents or on credit cards. [related_posts] Do I need legal advice to apply for a change to child maintenance? You don’t have to get legal advice from a divorce solicitor in order to apply for a child support agency variation but sometimes it helps to take advice on your options. It is important that you take legal advice if you haven’t reached a financial settlement with your ex-spouse or you have an ongoing spousal maintenance order. That is because there are potentially court based spousal maintenance options and other types of court order that may encourage the payer to start making reasonable child support payments. Court options can be used in combination with a variation application to the child support agency or as a stand-alone application. If you need legal assistance with a change to child maintenance please contact us today,

When separated parents are juggling full time jobs with child care it is common for parents to agree a shared care parenting regime for their children. Shared care may help with the daily battle of getting to work on time or getting one child to a ballet lesson and another to a football match on a Saturday but who pays child maintenance when you share the care of your children? That is a question you should ask before you agree childcare arrangements and the amount of child support. We are Manchester divorce solicitors If you are separating or divorcing and need legal help with child support or child custody then our expert divorce lawyers can help you. Contact us today. Child support and child care In my experience as a Manchester divorce solicitor some parents pay too much in child maintenance and others don’t pay enough. It is important to get the balance right. It can be hard to agree on the right level of child maintenance once a shared care arrangement is in place or once the first child maintenance payment has been made. That’s why it is important to get legal advice from a solicitor before plans are drawn up. What is ‘shared care’ of children? Shared care is as individual as families. It is a question of what works for a particular family. I have seen some families agree on: Sharing an au pair or nanny so that the child care support moves with the children to provide continuity; A week on, week off schedule so the children spend a week with each parent; A day on, day off schedule so the children never spend more than a day away from each parent, save for holidays. I am not advocating those shared care arrangements but for some families they work better than the more traditional 3 day / 4 day split one week and then swapping the days on the second week. What shared care arrangement works depends on distances between family homes, new relationships and step children and the practicalities of managing work and child care commitments combined with the daily commute and school run. Shared care doesn’t mean that the children have to spend exactly half their week with each parent. In some families one parent will look after the children during the week and the other parent at the weekend. You may question why one parent gets all the ‘quality weekend’ time with the children but some parents are only able to get weekend work or want stability for the children during the school week. Experience as a Manchester divorce solicitor has shown that any type of shared care arrangement can be good for children provided their parents are happy with the arrangements and commit to co-parenting. Who pays child maintenance when parenting of children is shared? If you carry out a poll of parents on the question who pays child maintenance when parenting of children is shared? the vast majority of parents assume that the parent who earns more than the other will pay child maintenance. That’s not right as under complicated child maintenance law rules if both parents equally share the care of their children neither parent will pay child maintenance to the other parent. It has long been thought that if one parent gets the child benefit money then their entitlement to the child benefit payment automatically means that they are the parent who is entitled to ask for child maintenance. One father recently challenged that idea and took his case to a child maintenance tribunal. The tribunal decided that: The day to day care provided by each parent has to be evaluated. The evaluation isn’t just counting nights that the children stay with each parent but looking at tasks and responsibilities; If there is equal responsibility for the day to day care of the children then no child maintenance is payable , even if one parent earns a lot more than the other parent; Child maintenance is only payable if one of the parents is classed under child maintenance rules as the ‘non-resident parent, or in other words, there isn’t an equal shared care arrangement. This means that the other parent is classed under child maintenance rules as the ’parent with care’; If there is no evidence to the contrary on shared care then if the person applying for child support receives the child benefit payments it is assumed that they are the ‘parent with care’. This assumption isn’t relevant if both parents equally share the care of the children. What difference does shared care make to child maintenance? If you share the care of your children then it can make the difference between receiving hundreds of pounds each month for your children in child support and receiving no child maintenance at all. That can mean the difference between being able to afford to work part time and having to work overtime to pay household bills. For parents who are paying child maintenance on top of the costs of looking after their child for half the week the child support payments can mean the difference between being able to afford a house near to a child’s school or only being able to buy a house that is too far away to be able to have the child to stay mid-week and get them to school the next day. That is why it is so important that both parents know where they stand on shared care and child maintenance before agreeing on a parenting regime and child maintenance. Sorting out family finances is similar to juggling shared child care with the daily commute and new relationships. There has to be joined up thinking into: What type of child care arrangement meet your child’s needs? Some children cope better than others with an equal shared care arrangement. How do the practicalities of commute and work commitments impact on sharing the child care? Will one parent be paying spousal maintenance to the other parent and, if so, how long for? Will one parent be receiving more than half of the equity in the family home to rehouse themselves as they earn less than the other parent? If you do share the care of the children and child support isn’t paid how will this impact on the finances of both parents?   With specialist legal advice from a Manchester divorce solicitor on your best divorce and financial options many parents can agree a financial settlement that meets both family’s needs and receive legal protection with a financial court order. [related_posts] What happens if we stop or start sharing the care of the children? If, for whatever reason, you stop or start sharing the care of your children then child maintenance could either stop or start. That is because in most situations you can apply to the child maintenance service for child support at any stage. If child care arrangements change then a parent may be able to ask the child maintenance service to either stop the requirement to pay child support or to vary the amount of child maintenance. That’s why, when looking at your housing options and finances on separation, it is as well to factor in possible changes in child support in future. Manchester & Cheshire based Evolve Family Law solicitors are approachable and friendly, providing pragmatic expert divorce, children and financial settlement solutions.