Dadtalk

Child Maintenance – An Introduction

What is child maintenance?

Child maintenance is regular, reliable financial support that helps towards the child’s everyday living costs. The parent who does not have main day-to-day care of the child (the non-resident parent) pays child maintenance to the parent who does have main day-to-day care (the parent with care). In some cases, this person can be a grandparent or guardian.

There are three ways of arranging child maintenance:

1. Make a private agreement
2. Use the Child Support Agency
3. Ask the courts to put a consent order in place

What is Child Maintenance Options?

Child Maintenance Options (Options) is a new service for separating and separated parents, as well as family, friends, guardians, and anyone else with an interest in child maintenance.

Options will help you to find the right child maintenance arrangement for you and your child, by giving you impartial information on all the options available to you.

Options can also provide practical support on many of the other issues you may face when parenting apart.

How can Child Maintenance Options help me?

Options provides information and support that will help you to:

• understand the options for making a child maintenance arrangement if you don’t already have one
• check if your existing arrangement is the right one for you and your child
• deal with other issues linked to child maintenance, such as housing, work, money and emotional well-being
• get in touch with other useful organisations that offer specialist advice