Making sure your children are financially supported through regular child maintenance payments
Originally posted 14 January 2019
We know that during a divorce or break-up that your children will be your biggest concern. It’s often a very stressful and worrying time that can be made worse by not knowing how much you should be paying or relying on the promise of regular child maintenance payments that end up arriving sporadically or not at all.
“Child maintenance is the money that is paid by the parent who the children do not live with for the majority of the time for the upkeep of the children.”
“Every parent, whether married or not, has a duty to financially support their child.”
“Generally speaking, child maintenance is paid until your child reaches 17 or leaves full-time secondary education, whichever is the longest.“
Often child maintenance is paid on a voluntary basis, and while most parents can come to an agreement between themselves, others need help to establish the appropriate level of child maintenance that you or your former partner should pay. Our experienced family team are able to assist with this and can help if maintenance payments have become irregular or have stopped.
It is important to know that a voluntary agreement cannot be enforced through the Isle of Man Courts, so if it’s not being adhered to then it may be that the arrangement needs to be formerly documented within a court order to ensure that the payments are enforceable and are paid regularly and on time.
As with most things in life, things change, whether it be for the better or worse and so the terms of an existing agreement may need to be changed to reflect those changes. This is especially so if personal or financial circumstances have changed, or the contact routine has substantially altered since the agreement was reached.
If you and your former partner cannot come to an agreement on child maintenance then an application may need to be made to the Court to have them determine the appropriate amount. The Court has the power to set the level of maintenance to be paid and also to have that paid via them rather than directly to your bank account. This helps when it comes to any enforcement for the receiving parent, and acts as proof of payment for the paying parent.
Child Maintenance | Talk to us today
If you need to talk to someone around contact and residence of your children, or want to talk to someone about child maintenance, then take the first step and please email [email protected] or call them on 01624 639350 to arrange your free initial consultation with us today over the telephone or through a video call.
