You can secure a financially stable life for your children. The maintenance courts and magistrates' courts are ready to assist you with the process. If the parent who's liable for maintenance can't be reached, the court can issue an order to a cellphone service provider to provide the court with their contact details. Skip to main content.
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All you need to know about child maintenance. All parents, whether married or not, living together, separated, or divorced and parents of adopted children, are required to support the financial needs of their children.
You will need to provide documents to your attorney which supports your maintenance claim. Your attorney will present a bundle to court that consists of proof as to the true needs of the child ren.
Due to the fact that you do not have any maintenance order, you may request that an interim maintenance order be made pending the finalisation of the matter. The interim maintenance amount can be agreed upon and paid monthly until the final order has been made.
Once the financial documents have been exchanged, a new court date will be given by the maintenance officer. The maintenance officer will give you a specific time to arrive at court on the given date.
At this stage, all the documents will be scrutinized by the maintenance officer. The maintenance officer is an independent third party and will be objective to all parties. There is a possibility that your matter will be settled during the informal once an agreement has been reached. If there is an agreement reached the maintenance officer will prepare a consent form and present the consent form to the Magistrate to make the consent form an order of court.
The Magistrate will read the consent form to you and the Respondent in court to make sure this is the agreement reached. If no agreement is reached during the informal stage, the maintenance officer will postpone your matter in front of the Magistrate for a formal enquiry trial. The formal enquiry in the maintenance court is run like any other civil trial in the magistrate court. This will mean that the parties must appear in court and give oral evidence on their financial positions as set out in the paperwork which has been exchanged between the parties and be subjected to questions from the court and the other side.
Should the amount of maintenance that is being paid to you by the father or mother of the child ren not meet the sufficient needs of the child ren , you will need to apply to court for a substitution of the existing maintenance order.
This means that you will be applying to the Maintenance court for an increase in the monthly maintenance amount that you receive from the mother or father of your child ren. Should the amount of maintenance that you are paying to the mother or father of your child ren exceed your monthly income in that you cannot afford to meet your monthly obligation for the payment of maintenance, you will need to apply to court for a substitution or discharge of existing maintenance order.
You cannot simply stop paying. At point number 1 below your details , you will insert the details of the mother or father of your child or children details, the person against whom the maintenance order was made. You will then continue to fill in the amount that you are currently paying or receiving in respect of the child ren. You will then continue to list any additional contributions that are made towards the child ren. Point number 2 they are asking you the amount that you wish to increase or decrease the maintenance amount too.
Point number 3 they are asking you why should you receive an increase in maintenance for the child ren or why are you seeking a reduction of maintenance in terms of the existing order. The same formula dealt with in the Application for Maintenance Order above will be applied to the situation, whether you are asking for an increase or decrease.
The same process will be followed by court for the Substitution or Discharge of existing Maintenance Order as the process for Application for Maintenance Order. The Maintenance Officer needs to enquire at your court date as stipulated in the Directive as to the reasons for you seeking an increase or decrease in maintenance.
When applying for an increase in maintenance, you would firstly need to determine the reasonable need of the child ren on a monthly basis. The standard of living of the child ren are accustomed too will be taken into account. Maintenance is not a wish list and attempting to rely on inflated expenses only frustrates the process of obtaining any increase. An unmarried partner has limited claims, whether or not they have children with an ex-partner as the current law is based on relationship status.
If you are an unmarried parent or a husband, wife or civil partner who can't apply for spousal maintenance for one of the reasons set out above then child maintenance solicitors say that there are other legal options, such as:. If you need legal advice after your separation or divorce or have questions about how child maintenance is calculated or how child custody and contact affects the amount payable then the expert child maintenance lawyers at OTS Solicitors can help you. I'd like to say a big thank you to angelique for all the hard work she put into my case.
The father was a n I can say from my experience with Angelique that the service provided to me was professional, caring, kind and e Dear Angelique, Thank you for your wonderful advice and support at a difficult time.
Best wishes to you al I would like to take this opportunity to thank you immensely. You have been working very hard on this, even thro I was unfortunate enough to have very poor representation with a previous solicitor, my case was a total mess a I instructed Magdalena, Angelique and the Family Team with one matter, but I have been so impressed by them tha Megamenu Services Divorce and Separation Agreed Divorce Contested Divorce Civil Partnership Dissolution Grounds for Divorce Divorce Guide High Net Worth Divorce International Divorce Financial Settlements Pensions and Divorce Property and Divorce Maintenance and Child Support Whether you are dealing with divorce, dissolving a civil partnership, legal separation, arrangements for children, prenuptial, postnuptial or cohabitation agreements, domestic violence and emergency injunctions, you can rely on our supportive, practical advice.
Cohabitation Agreements Pre and Post Nuptial Agreements UK and International Divorce Settlement If you are considering a separation or getting divorced from your partner, husband or wife then you need the best divorce and financial settlement advice from top London family law and divorce solicitors. There is always something more important to do. However, the level of payments can be adjusted if, for example, either of your income levels change.
Child maintenance payments usually stop when the child in question is 16 years old. If the child is in full-time education up to A-level or equivalent, payments stop once they reach There are other exceptional circumstances that define when you can stop paying child maintenance, for example:.
If you need legal advice with regard to the payments you pay or receive, please get in touch with our experienced family lawyers.
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