Periodical Payments Order meaning

Procedure—Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 Unless an application seeks only periodical payments (ie no capital orders at all), an application under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) will proceed in accordance with the standard procedure. In the same way, where a party applies to vary an existing order, the fast-track route is available only where the variation concerns a periodical payments order and no form of capitalisation is requested. See Practice Note: Fast-track (shortened) financial remedy procedure. An application under ChA 1989, Sch 1 is issued in the Family Court and is allocated to a district judge. See Practice Notes: Procedure—Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 and Issuing financial proceedings in Form A (standard procedure). This Procedural Guide is primarily focused on applications proceeding under the standard procedure. The pre-action protocol and the overriding objective contained in the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010) apply to applications under ChA 1989, Sch 1—see Practice Note: Financial proceedings—pre-application requirements—Pre-application protocol (FPR 2010, PD...

Y v Z [2024] EWFC 4 What are the practical implications of this case? Before determining the application, the court was taken through a series of authorities. Peel J concluded that those decisions do not reveal a standard tariff or an upper limit; instead, each application falls to be decided on its own facts and within its specific context, with context being decisive... ChA 1989, Sch 1 empowers the court to order a settlement of property, commonly structured as a trust, licence or lease. Such arrangements preserve the payer’s ownership of the asset, whilst permitting the payee to live in the property with the children during their minority, or until the conclusion of tertiary education, as explained in Re A (A Child: Financial Provision) [2014] EWCA Civ 1577, [2015] 2 FLR 625 and UD v DN (Schedule 1, Children Act 1989; Capital Provision) [2021] EWCA Civ 1947, [2022] 2 FLR 308... In addition, the court may direct the payment of a lump sum or a series...

In this issue: Clinical Negligence Interim payments, periodical payments and provisional damages Employer’s Liability Public authorities and the state Claims involving fraud and fundamental dishonesty Other PI and Clinical negligence news Daily and weekly news alerts LexTalk®PI & Clinical Negligence: a Lexis®Nexis community LexisNexis® Webinars Useful information Clinical Negligence High Court grants £2m interim award under the first limb of Eeles In DBH (a child proceeding by his mother and Litigation Friend TE) v Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, the court authorised an interim payment of £2,193,810.39—amounting to 90% of a prudent valuation—under the first limb of Eeles v Cobham Hire Services Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 204, to meet the claimant’s pressing accommodation requirements and therapy provision pending trial. The judge declined to make any further award under the second limb of Eeles, holding that the material before the court fell short of establishing that the cost of the...

Practice Note This Practice Note sets out guidance on the court’s authority to order periodical payments and/or lump sums covering school fees and other educational or training outgoings. It outlines the steps to be taken in matters involving parents who are or have been married or in a civil partnership, as well as in situations where the parents have never been married or in a civil partnership, and prescribes the process to follow. Significant limits apply to the court’s ability to make periodical payment orders for a child where the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has, or would have, competence to carry out a maintenance calculation. Even so, the court still has power to direct that a parent, or any person who has treated the relevant child as a child of the family, must pay or contribute towards the expense of a child receiving instruction at an educational institution, or undertaking training for a trade, profession, or vocation (whether or not in paid work). Most frequently, such directions concern the...

Duty of the court to consider a clean break Although a financial clean break is not presumed on divorce, the court remains obliged to assess whether using its powers to end the parties’ mutual financial responsibilities is appropriate. When deploying those powers, the court must also examine how and when each party’s obligations to the other should cease, and aim for termination as soon after the final order or decree as it judges fair and reasonable, consistent with what it regards as just and reasonable. In doing so, it evaluates both the practical method and the timing of that cessation. Section 25A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) – mirrored in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) – does not specify when a clean break order may be appropriate, offering no guidance on the circumstances. However, where the court opts for a periodical payments or secured periodical payments order, it must consider capping the term to what is sufficient to allow the recipient to adapt, without...

Practice Note This Practice Note sets out guidance on implementing and enforcing financial orders arising from family proceedings when one party has died. It examines the impact of a death on applications, and on secured and unsecured periodical payments, lump sum orders, property adjustment orders and pensions orders. Where a party dies before divorce or dissolution proceedings have begun, the parties remain married or in a civil partnership, and the deceased’s estate passes in line with their will or, if none, the intestacy rules. A claim for a financial order is personal to the spouses or civil partners and does not survive death. If either party dies before an application under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) or Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) for financial provision or property adjustment is made, the court has no jurisdiction to make a financial order. Likewise, if death occurs before the financial proceedings are determined, the court will be unable to make a financial order...

This note offers broad guidance on financial support for children. Your family solicitor can give tailored advice to suit your particular circumstances and needs. Child maintenance Under the law relating to child maintenance (also called child support), the court is generally unable to make a child maintenance order other than by the parties’ consent (agreement), except where certain exceptions apply. Any consent order for a child’s maintenance binds for only one year, after which either parent may seek a calculation from the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), if they wish to do so. Where you and the other parent cannot settle the level of maintenance, either party can apply to the CMS for a formal assessment...

STOP PRESS: The Financial Remedies Guide 2026, published on 13 March 2026 by Mr Justice Peel (National Lead Judge of the Financial Remedies Court) and His Honour Judge Hess (Deputy National Lead Judge of the Financial Remedies Court) with the approval of the President of the Family Division, replaces and supersedes: the Statement on the efficient conduct of financial remedy cases allocated to a High Court judge whether sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice or elsewhere (1 February 2016) (the High Court judge level efficiency statement) the Statement on the efficient conduct of financial remedy hearings proceeding in the Financial Remedies Court below High Court judge level (11 January 2022) (the below High Court judge level efficiency statement) the Financial Remedies Court Primary Principles document (11 January 2022) the Notice from the Financial Remedies Court: electronic bundles (19 April 2022) the Allocation of financial remedies cases to High Court judge level (21 May 2024) This document is being revised...

This document offers general guidance on applying to the court for maintenance on divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership. Your family lawyer can provide tailored advice based on your circumstances and will be able to address your specific situation. Who can apply for maintenance? Either spouse or civil partner may apply to the court for a spousal or civil partner maintenance order, also referred to as a periodical payments order. The party making the application is the applicant; the other party is the respondent respectively. Save in certain specified situations, a prospective applicant must consider with a mediator whether the dispute could be resolved by non-court dispute resolution. All applicants must meet these requirements before starting proceedings unless a stated exception applies, and the court will expect any respondent to have attended a mediation information and assessment meeting (MIAM) beforehand, as part of the process. What happens when the application is received by the court? When either party issues an application, the court automatically...

The young person is now past 18, has finished secondary schooling and is moving on to higher education. The prior maintenance arrangement has now ceased, and the child intends to seek financial provision under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) by making their application. Under ChA 1989, Sch 1, a parent, guardian, or special guardian of a child, or any person in whose favour a residence order is in force with respect of a child, may apply for a range of orders for the benefit of a child as provided under Sch 1...

Broadly, a capitalised maintenance order is intended to achieve a clean break, bringing to an end each party’s financial responsibilities owed to the other, both during life and on death, pursuant to the relevant statutory provisions of section 25A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) See the Practice Notes: Capitalised maintenance—Duxbury calculations, and Financial clean break orders in family proceedings...

The Family Court holds jurisdiction, under section 23 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973), to make orders for periodical payments in favour of a party to a marriage, or in favour of a child of the family, for that party’s own maintenance or for the maintenance of a child. This power is, nevertheless, subject to the provisions of the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991), and CSA 1991, s 8 correspondingly and accordingly limits the court’s powers to make child maintenance orders...