If parents separate, child maintenance is generally paid to the parent who has the main day-to-day care of the child. If the paying parent stops making payments, it can cause substantial stress and difficulties for the parent with whom the child is living.
We take a look at how child maintenance arrears can be dealt with.
Payment of Child Maintenance
After a separation or divorce, parents may agree on the amount to be paid by way of child maintenance. This is usually put into a court order, meaning the paying party is legally required to make the agreed payments.
If difficulties arise, you can ask the Child Maintenance Service to collect the maintenance payments on your behalf. You may wish to speak to your child’s other parent first to try and ascertain why the payment has been missed. If they have struggled to make the payment, they may be prepared to agree to make the payment, avoiding the need for legal intervention.
It is important to act quickly if a maintenance payment is missed as the court might not enforce arrears arising under an agreement you have with your child’s other parent if these arrears are more than a year overdue.
The Child Maintenance Service will not collect any arrears that are owed before you approach them.
Child Maintenance Service
The Child Maintenance Service can work out how much maintenance should be paid. These can then be paid in one of two ways:
- Direct Pay, where the paying parent makes payment directly to the parent with the main care of the child; or
- Collect and Pay, where the Child Maintenance Service collects payments and passes them on to the receiving parent. There is a fee for this service
If either parent wishes to use Direct Pay, that is the method that will be used, however, if a payment is late or missed, then the Child Maintenance Service can change the payment method to Collect and Pay.
What happens if my child’s other parent won’t pay child maintenance?
If your child maintenance payments fall into arrears, you should notify the Child Maintenance Service. If the Collect and Pay system is being used, they will automatically be aware of the situation.
The service will take steps to collect the arrears. It has the authority to collect money directly from a parent’s earnings or their bank account. If this is not successful, then they can ask the court for a liability order. The parent will then be required to pay in accordance with the order.
Enforcing a Liability Order
If payment is still not made, the Child Maintenance Service can take steps to enforce the liability order. It can be registered on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, which could affect the parent’s credit rating.
Further potential actions include:
- Engaging bailiffs to obtain the money, either by way of negotiation or by seizing and selling goods
- Preventing the defaulting parent from selling their home
- Obtaining an order for sale to sell property or assets belonging to the defaulting parent
- Preventing the defaulting parent from having or keeping a driving licence
- In serious cases, prison
Contact our Child Maintenance Solicitors
At Witan Solicitors, we represent clients in seeking and enforcing child maintenance agreements. If you have child maintenance arrears, we can advise you of your options and take prompt action to recover the money owed to you and your family. If you would like to speak to one of our expert child maintenance solicitors, email us at info@witansolicitors.co.uk or fill in our contact form and we will talk through your situation with you and discuss the options available. We have offices in Birmingham, Northampton and London
