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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
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Key definition
Maintenance definition

What does Maintenance mean? Maintenance describes financial support paid by one person to a current or former spouse or civil partner, or for the benefit of a child, during separation, divorce/dissolution and afterwards. It is a descriptive term used across family law, with statutory regimes and case law guiding its assessment and enforcement. England & Wales and Northern Ireland: spousal/civil partner maintenance is commonly termed periodical payments, including interim “maintenance pending suit”; child maintenance/child support is primarily via the Child Maintenance Service (with court jurisdiction in limited cases, including Schedule 1 Children Act 1989 and for a “child of the family”). Scotland: support during a...

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Highway maintenance liability in England and Wales: private (tenure, enclosure, prescription) and public responsibilities, section 38 adoption and commuted sums, List of Streets, and highway authority duties

Practice notes
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Highways not maintainable

There exist a handful of highways for which no party bears any duty to maintain them at all in law. This arises only in very unusual cases where a landowner has dedicated a route as a highway, yet it has neither been adopted nor had responsibility for upkeep defined. In such a case, many wrongly assume the maker or dedicator of the highway becomes liable for Maintenance and repair. That assumption is false. Where a way has been dedicated as a highway but not adopted, no one is responsible for its maintenance, as the dedicator is under no duty to maintain or repair it. Every other highway is maintained either at public expense, by a private company, or by one or more private individuals who, in most instances, prove to be frontagers or owners of the subsoil.

Highways privately maintainable

The usual example of a privately maintainable highway is a road newly constructed under section 38 of the Highways Act 1980 (HiA 1980) agreement. Until a newly adopted road has been open for roughly 12 months, the developer typically remains responsible for its maintenance...

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Piers Riley-Smith
Piers Riley-Smith

Piers has a varied planning, environment, licensing and highways practice. Piers is ranked in Chambers and Partners 2023 where Clients have said: " Piers Riley-Smith is a strong planning junior”“An enthusiastic and excellent communicator as an advocate, and within the professional team.”Piers is ranked in the Legal 500 as a “Rising Star” and is noted as being “approachable and fully committed to the job in hand, providing good advice and giving a very positive impression to clients.’Planning and EnvironmentHe is regularly instructed by local authorities, developers and the wider public in planning inquiries. He has also been instructed by both local authorities and developers at local plan and neighborhood plan exams. He appears in the High Court and Court of Appeal on behalf of local authorities, and private companies or developers, and local resident groups. He also accepts pro bono briefs from the...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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