Child Maintenance Solicitors

If you are going through a separation or you and your partner have already split up, you will need to make arrangements to ensure your children are provided for. From clothes, food and other everyday costs to school trips and social activities, raising a child can be expensive and many parents are understandably concerned about becoming a single income household.

Fortunately, parents have a legal obligation to provide for their children, even if they do not live with them most of the time. Child maintenance (or child support) will ensure that your children can receive everything they need to live a happy, secure life.

Our child maintenance solicitors in West Sussex offer a friendly, child-centred service to help you resolve all types of family law issue. Whether you are the parent who will pay child maintenance or the parent who will receive it, we can provide friendly, practical advice and help you arrange an agreement that is fair to everyone involved.

Child maintenance, if not voluntarily agreed between parents, is almost always decided by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) (formerly known as the Child Support Agency (CSA)). The family court may play a part in some circumstances, for example:

• If the paying parent does not live in the country.
• If the paying parent has a significantly high income.
• If your child has certain special needs that require a more bespoke approach to child maintenance.

At SMR Solicitors, we offer a free 20-minute consultation with one of our family law experts to discuss your situation.

We want our pricing to be fair and transparent, so we will give a realistic estimate of costs at the outset, including both our fees and all third-party costs, such as court fees. 

For help with child maintenance and any other family law matter, just give us a call at your local office in:

BOGNOR REGIS                CHICHESTER          EAST WITTERING         SELSEY

Or fill in our online enquiry form to request a call back.

How our child maintenance solicitors can help you

Voluntary Child Maintenance Agreements

We understand that communicating with your former partner after you have broken up can be incredibly frustrating and stressful. It is likely that you both want what is best for your children, but you find it hard to agree on the best way to accomplish your goals.

In our experience, with the right support, many couples are able to find a solution entirely between themselves. Our role is to help you to communicate with your former partner and come to an agreement that works for every member of the family.

As well as helping you negotiate, we can put your agreement into writing so everyone understands their obligations and there can be no confusion about how much maintenance you have agreed or how regularly it should be paid.

If you need extra support, we can also help you access Alternative Dispute Resolution methods such as mediation which has a strong success rate for helping separating couples sort out issues in a constructive, non-combative way.

Child Maintenance Orders

The court may make a Child Maintenance Order if you cannot come to an agreement and it is not appropriate for you to use the CMS. This is only in rare circumstances, such as:

• If you and/or your former partner live overseas
• The paying parent has a significantly high income
• Your child has needs that require payments above the CMS’s set calculations, such as a disability requiring additional care

We can provide advice about whether applying to court for a Child Maintenance Order would be in your best interests as well as handling the application process on your behalf and representing you during any hearings.

Using the Child Maintenance Service

If you and your former partner are finding it too hard to come to an agreement between yourselves, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) can work out an appropriate agreement for you. The CMS calculates the amount payments should be according to a formula that takes into account the paying parent’s disposable income and the number of children you have.

The CMS can also provide other support – it can collect payments on your behalf and even take legal action if the paying partner falls behind on their payments (it charges a fee for these services). This can be valuable where the paying parent has a history of being uncooperative or unreliable with payments.

When we’re in the process of helping you sort out arrangements for children, we will signpost you towards the CMS if we think it may be the right option for you.

Feel free to ask us any questions about how child maintenance and using the CMS fits in with your other co-parenting legal arrangements.

Child maintenance FAQs

Will I have to go to court to sort out child maintenance?

One of our clients’ biggest worries tends to be, will I end up in court? Separation matters involving children are often tense, particularly if you and your partner disagree about what is best for your children. However, with the right support and guidance from a family law solicitor, it is usually possible to work out child maintenance matters between the parents.

In fact, although the court may make decisions about some financial matters upon divorce, civil partnership dissolution or separation, they do not usually make decisions about child maintenance.

It is the Child Maintenance Service that takes responsibility for working out payments and enforcing a child maintenance arrangement.

Can I get child maintenance if I was not married or in a civil partnership with my child’s other parent?

Yes, a child’s parents are legally obligated to financially support them, including paying child maintenance if the child does not live with them. For most couples, the question of who are the parents is simple – the birth parents will be the legal parents.

However, for some same-sex couples where the child was conceived using methods such as artificial insemination or adoptive parents, it is important to make sure that both parents are legally recognised as the parents. The law on legal parenthood in this situation is complicated, so if you need advice about this, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

What should I do if my former partner stops paying child support?

Your first step should always be to try to open up a conversation with your partner; there may be a valid reason why they have stopped paying and you may be able to renegotiate the agreement without taking further action.

If negotiation does not work, the action you can take will depend on the circumstances in which the child maintenance agreement was made:

• A voluntary agreement that was not made legally binding – you may be able to apply to the CMS to get a legally binding agreement.
• A voluntary agreement that was made into a Consent Order – Consent Orders are legally binding so you can apply to court to enforce it.
• A CMS agreement – the CMS may be able to take legal action on your behalf to enforce payments.
• A Child Maintenance Order – you can apply to court to enforce the Order.

We can provide further advice about your options, so you can move forwards feeling confident.

Speak to our child maintenance lawyers in West Sussex

If you are going through a separation and need advice about child maintenance or a child maintenance agreement you previously made with a former partner that has broken down, contact one of our offices in Chichester, East Wittering, Selsey or Bognor Regis, or fill in our online enquiry form to request a call back.