Divorce Guide

Paying Child Support

For a divorced person with children, paying child support is a task with major financial implication. To get Child Support is the right of the child and to pay is the duty of the parent. The concept is present all over the world since ages to take care of the best interest of children after their parents are divorced.

Child Support is a regular payment made by the non custodial parent on a regular basis as a contribution to the financial needs of children. After divorce when the couples start staying separately the child resides with the custodial parent. The custodial parent takes care of each and every small needs of the child. But as a single parent it is not possible to take the whole financial responsibility alone.

The concept of paying Child Support or Child Maintenance exists so that both the parents can equally contribute to the financial needs of the child. In UK, the Family Court decides the amount, period, and schedule of Child Support that needs to be paid. CSA (The Child Support Agency), is an agency appointed by the court that takes care of Child Support issues.

The role of CSA is to regulate the child support issues. It deals with individual cases to ensure that the affected party gets the child support money due to him or her. It helps in establishing, calculating, and demanding child support.

Paying Child Support is the duty of every parent and to shun from this responsibility is punishable by court. Most of the people treat child support as a burden. But being the biological parent of the makes you directly responsible for paying child maintenance.

Here are a few important things to note while you are paying or receiving Child Support:

1. Child Support is not taxable. It is not added to the receiver’s income but deducted from the payer’s income for tax purposes. So child support is not only a financial burden but also a small financial relief from tax point of view.
2. Child Support does not need to be paid for life. Child Maintenance money is paid only till the child is 18 years old. Once the child is big enough to support himself the payment is stopped. In some exceptional cases the court can order child support payment till a little beyond 18 years but in most of the cases it stops after that.
3. Child Support can be modified later. It is possible to reduce decrease or increase the amount of Child Support some time in future. In case a person loses his job or has reduced earnings due to some reason then he or she can request the court for decreasing or even stopping the Child Support. Similarly, if the custodial parent’s income stopped due to some reason then he or she can request the court for a raise in Child Support. Court will grant the request only if the reason is valid.
4. Faltering on Child Support payment is punishable by law. If it is brought to the notice of the court that a person has stopped paying child support or not sending the money regularly then he or she will be penalized by the court.

Paying Child Support is the duty of every parent in case the child is not staying with him.

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