Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Child maintenance definition

What does Child maintenance mean? child maintenance is the money one parent pays to the other to meet a child’s day‑to‑day needs after separation (for example housing, food, clothing and related costs). The term is used across the UK and Ireland: in the UK it operates mainly under statutory child support schemes; in Ireland it is set by court order. England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: maintenance can be agreed privately or arranged via the child maintenance service (CMS). The CMS calculates (and, if required, collects) child support using a statutory formula based largely on the paying parent’s gross income, the...

Child maintenance and financial provision for children of spouses/civil partners: court powers, CMS limits and exceptions, Segal orders, DPMCA 1978, Sch 1 Children Act 1989 (England and Wales)

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note considers the court’s powers to make financial provision for children in cases where the paying and receiving party are or have been married or in a civil partnership.

It sets out the court’s jurisdiction to order periodical payments and capital provision, to make global or ‘Segal’ orders, and to grant relief under the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates’ Courts Act 1978 (DPMCA 1978) and the corresponding Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) provisions, including failure to maintain claims and applications before lay justices.

It further examines financial provision pursuant to Sch 1 to the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) in matters involving parents who are or have been married or in a civil partnership, and covers situations where a financial order has already been made under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) or CPA 2004.

Where the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has, or would have on an application, jurisdiction to undertake a Maintenance calculation, the court cannot make, vary, or revive Child maintenance orders, subject to certain key exceptions...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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