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Hello ... I have an 18 yr old for whom I have been paying maintenance by court order since he was 2. I have just been informed I am likely to be made redundant end of August 2013. I lost contact with my son and his Mum some years back. The court order states that I if he goes direct to university post A-Levels - so this September - then I should continue payment. Given I will be unemployed, what obligation do I have to continuing with payments in light of my being unemployed when I have no monthly income?
Hi DNorthwo.
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant.
If the court order you have for child maintenance is a Consent Order, once it has been agreed and authorised, you are legally liable to pay the amount the court has endorsed. It is possible to change the terms of your Consent Order and to do this you will need to get legal advice. This most commonly results in going back to court to set out the application on a standard form. The court will then consider any changes. If you would like to pursue changing your Consent Order, Gov.uk has a service which may help you to find a legal advisor or solicitor in your area. You can find this at https://www.gov.uk/find-a-legal-adviser.
You mention in your post that you have been paying child maintenance since your son was 2 years old. As your Consent Order dates back to before April 2003, then law does not allow you to change over to the Child Support Agency (CSA). Only the courts have the ability to arrange child maintenance in such circumstances.
Having said this, you could consider setting up a family-based arrangement. This is simply an agreement between you and your son's mother about who will provide what for him.
I understand that you have lost contact with your son and his mother. However, if you are able to get in touch and you are able to discuss and negotiate, you could try and agree a family-based arrangement that you are both happy with. This type of agreement does not have to be all about money. It can include such things as you providing clothes and mobile phone top ups, for instance. A family-based arrangement is not legally binding, but it is flexible and can be changed as your son's needs change.
To help you make a family-based arrangement and for access to useful tools and leaflets online you can visit http://www.cmoptions.org.
If you would like an idea how much child maintenance could be worked out by the CSA, you can use the online calculator that is available on our website. You may want to use this figure as a starting point for negotiations to make a family-based arrangement.
If you can agree a child maintenance arrangement, you can record the details on our family-based arrangement form. Although this is not a legally enforceable document, it puts the agreement on a more formal basis. You can complete it together with your son's mother and sign your names to show your commitment to this arrangement. You can also download this form from our website.
To find out more about how Child Maintenance Options can help you visit cmoptions.org or call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on Saturday.
We have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful, it offers help and support to separated families. The link is: http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation
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