Our specialist children law and child support solicitors, led by partners Louise Halford and Robin Charrot, have the legal expertise to support and help you.
Why choose the child support solicitors at Evolve Family Law?
Partners, Louise Halford and Robin Charrot lead a dedicated team of family solicitors who are passionate about the need for family lawyers to provide holistic family law advice so you understand how child support relates to your divorce financial settlement or child custody and contact and can make informed choices and decisions over your families future.
Child Support & Maintenance – Your Questions Answered
How is child support decided?
If parents can’t reach agreement on how much child support should be paid either parent can ask the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to carry out an assessment of how much child support is payable. Alternatively, parents can get advice from child maintenance solicitors. Once the amount of child support is calculated parents can then either:
- Sort out payment direct with one another or
- Ask the Child Maintenance Service to arrange and transfer the payment. There is a charge for the Child Maintenance Service to take the payments and pass them on to the other parent. That is why the Child Maintenance Service encourages parents to sort out payments direct.
How does child support and spousal maintenance work?
Lots of parents get confused about child support and spousal maintenance. They are two different payments although if child support and spousal maintenance are paid the two payments are usually paid in one bank transfer to keep things simple.
Although child maintenance solicitors calculate child support using a set formula the Court doesn’t use a mathematical formula to decide on how much spousal maintenance should be paid to a former husband, wife or civil partner. If you are getting spousal maintenance or you are providing financial support to a partner it is sensible to get expert advice from child maintenance solicitors so that you know how the child support fits in with any other maintenance payments and any overall divorce financial settlement.
Child support and equal or shared parenting
Most families assume that the higher earner or breadwinner must pay child support for a child, but that isn’t necessarily the case. If there is an equal parenting arrangement (based on the number of nights per week on average that a child spends with each parent) then neither parent will pay child support to the other, even if one has a better job or fewer outgoings.
If one parent spends fewer contact nights (averaged over a year to take holidays into account) than the other parent then they will be expected to pay child support for the child to the other parent. That is the case even if the paying parent earns less than the parent receiving the child support or if they have a bigger mortgage and outgoings.
If you have a shared care arrangement it is important to keep a record of how much overnight time is spent as the amount will affect the amount of child support.
How do child maintenance solicitors calculate child support?
The Child Maintenance Service and child maintenance solicitors use a set mathematical formula to work out how much child support is payable provided that the payer’s gross income (after deduction of pension contributions) is £156,000 a year or less. If the paying parent’s income is more than £156,000 a year the Court has the power to make additional child maintenance orders (known as top-up child support) to provide extra child support. The Court doesn’t use the same Child Maintenance Service formula when awarding top-up child support but instead looks at a range of factors, including the child’s needs.
How is gross income calculated for child support?
The paying parent’s gross income is usually calculated using the information provided to the Inland Revenue for the most recently available full tax year. Normally, to change this, the child support payer has to produce proof of current annual gross income that is different by at least 25% from the figure used by HMRC before the amount of child support will be altered. The amount of child support payable is not affected by how much the receiving parent earns each year or by his or her disposable income.
What about child support special expenses?
The amount of child support can be affected by ‘special expenses’ such as the costs incurred in seeing a child.
How should parents reach a child support agreement?
The Child Maintenance Service encourages parents to reach an agreement, without the need for a child support assessment by them. If the Child Maintenance Service do carry out the child support assessment, they encourage parents to sort out payments direct, in order to save the parent’s paying the child support collection fees.
Use of the government child support calculator provides a helpful way to assess child support liability. The government calculator can be found at www.gov.uk/calculate-your-child-maintenance.
Child maintenance solicitors can also calculate child support liability for you and discuss the interplay between how much is paid or received in child support and the amount payable in spousal maintenance on divorce and the overall divorce financial settlement.
How is child support reduced for overnight contact?
The amount payable in child support is reduced by 1/7th for every night of the week that, on average, a child spends with the paying parent. If there is more than one child and the children don’t stay overnight for the same number of nights then the reduction is the average figure. Accordingly, if one child spends one night per week and the other child spends two nights per week on average this would result in a reduction of 3/14th’s.
What happens to child support if the parent is paying child support for additional children?
If the paying parent is financially supporting other children, then the payer’s gross income will be reduced by the following percentages depending upon the number of children he or she is supporting before the child support is calculated, namely:
- 11% for one child.
- 14% for two children.
- 16% for three or more children.
Is child support payable if the receiving parent remarries or lives with a partner?
The Child Maintenance Service and child maintenance solicitors do not take into account the payee’s income and personal circumstances (for example whether he or she has remarried or is in a cohabiting relationship) when calculating child support. This is because these factors are not deemed relevant in the government‘s set mathematical formula used to calculate child support liability.
Can the Court make child support orders?
Although the Court has limited power to make child support Orders the Court can make the following orders:
- Payment of school fees and other educational expenses.
- Expenses arising if the child has a disability.
- Financial support for young children age twenty and over if they are in full-time education.
- A lump sum or cash order or orders to meet the specific needs of the child.
- Provision for housing – although if funds are made available to buy a house the house will remain the asset of the payer and the payer will be able to sell the property once the child finishes full-time education.
- Child support if both parents agree to the Court making an Order. If both parents do not agree to the Court making an Order the Court does not have the power to order child support. After a Court Order has been in place for a year either parent can make an application to the Child Maintenance Service. Any assessment by the Child Maintenance Service will then override the Court Order. This issue has to be carefully considered if the paying parent has agreed to pay more than the likely Child Maintenance Service award as part of a divorce financial settlement.
- Top up child support.
What is top up child support?
If the Child Maintenance Service makes the maximum child support award (because the paying parent’s gross income is more than £156,000 a year) then the Court can make a top-up child support Order. The top-up child support is enforceable and still payable even after a year has passed from the making of the Order, provided that there is still a maximum Child Maintenance Service assessment in place.
Can the amount payable in child support be changed?
Child support can go up or down dependent upon changes in the paying parent’s financial circumstances. For example, the paying parent’s gross income and pension contributions change or personal circumstances alter, such as the number of children the paying parent is financially supporting. As child support can go up or down it is important to get regular advice from child maintenance solicitors.
Can child support cover private school fees?
The Child Maintenance Service can’t order a parent to pay school fees but the Court can make an Order to make one parent either pay or contribute toward private school fees and ‘extras’. The Court will look at a range of factors when making a decision about whether or not to make a school fees Order, including affordability if a couple are trying to create and support two homes out of the income that used to support one family home and school fees.
If parents can’t agree on whether a child should go into or remain in private education either parent can separately ask a Court to decide the specific issue of which specific school the child should go to. It is possible for parents to agree on the principle of private or state education but not be able to resolve the identity of the particular school.
How the child maintenance solicitors at Evolve can help
Sorting out a financial settlement is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle only works if you have all the pieces and they fit together. As specialist family and child maintenance solicitors we can help you look at the inter play between child support, spousal maintenance and the overall divorce financial settlement to make sure that you reach a resolution that works for you and your family. We can advise you in traditional Court proceedings or support you through negotiations and family mediation.
