Financial Dispute Concerning a Child

Financial dispute concerning a child

For modern families and those formed through assisted reproduction, financial disputes concerning a child can raise complex legal issues about legal status and financial responsibility, as well as quantum of income and capital claims. This can include complex fertility and family law issues in cases involving a co-parent, surrogate, known donor, same-sex partner and former partner.

When UK resident parents cannot agree child maintenance arrangements, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is responsible for determining the level of child maintenance payments from a non-resident parent. However, the CMS does not deal with:

• Housing costs of a child.
• Specific costs of raising a child with a disability or special needs.
• Private education costs.
• Top-up financial maintenance (over and above the CMS threshold of £156,000 gross per annum).
• Financial awards against a parent who resides abroad (in cases outside the jurisdiction of the CMS).

In cases where the parents are married or in civil partnership with each other and the jurisdiction of the CMS does not apply, an application for financial provision for a child can be brought within divorce or dissolution of civil partnership proceedings.

In cases where the jurisdiction of the CMS does not apply and the parents have not been married to each other, an application for financial provision for a child can be brought under Schedule 1 Children Act 1989.

We have in-depth expertise in fertility and family law, enabling us to place financial arrangements for a child on a firm legal basis.