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CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY
If parents separate, the parent who does not have the full time care of the child/ren is responsible for maintaining the child/ren financially until the children reach the age of 16 or finish in full time education.

Advice is offered to clients on the amount that a client may have to pay from their monthly income, or what they may receive from the parent who does not live with them and the children. Further advice will be provided as to how that may effect the parent’s welfare benefits.

Children are expensive and must be supported ideally by their parents. The Child Support Agency are now the only way to enforce such support, unless the parents are particularly wealthy, or live abroad. You can reach agreement with the other parent over financial support without involving the Agency but you cannot enforce through the Courts.

The formula has recently been simplified. The parents are classified as the Parent with Care, and the Non-Resident Parent. The Non-Resident Parent’s income is calculated net of Tax, National Insurance Contributions and Pension Payments. The resultant liability for child support is as follows:-

(a) One child 15%
(b) Two children 20%
(c) Three children or more 25%

These payments are adjusted in certain circumstances.

(i) There is a reduction in the payment by the Non-Resident Parent if the children stay overnight for more than 52 nights a year.

(ii) The figure is reduced by 25% if the Non-Resident Parent has a new family to support.

(iii) There are a few other grounds for amendment to the simple formula, but it is impossible to “do a deal” over child support and exclude the Agency.

Our Legal Team is up to date with the new Law and will be happy to advise on the implications in each case.