What You May Have Forgotten to Factor into a Child Maintenance Order

What You May Have Forgotten to Factor into a Child Maintenance Order

As part of the negotiation process of a divorce settlement, if you have kids together, the chances are a child maintenance order will be required to protect your children’s best interests.

What is child maintenance?

Put simply, it’s a mutual financial agreement, whereby one separated parent commits to paying the other a set monthly figure to cover the ongoing costs of raising kids. This is different to a spousal maintenance, which is aimed at supporting an ex-partner who may be financially vulnerable for a time post-divorce, rather than children.

When negotiating a suitable child maintenance settlement, it’s easy to focus on the essentials but there are often many costs which be overlooked. All of which can create challenges down the line. If you’d like to get all your ducks in a row early on in the negotiation process, consider the following additional costs which should be factored into a child maintenance order.

Extracurricular activities

Child maintenance should factor in some kind of slush fund for your kids’ extracurricular activities. It could be swimming or music lessons, playing for a football team or covering the cost of their season ticket to watch their favourite football club. Anything which is vital for their development outside of school hours. These costs can spiral quickly for single parents without sufficient support.

Additional school expenses

While most child maintenance orders will look to include a base level of financial contributions toward school supplies like uniform and equipment, there are several other aspects to factor in with school life too. It could be school trips to broaden their horizons and knowledge, extracurricular tutoring and support or specialised equipment. If your kids go to private school, be sure to factor in the VAT that’s now charged on private school fees by the UK government.

Healthcare expenses

Of course, living in the UK, your kids will benefit from healthcare treatment on the National Health Service (NHS). However, it’s not impossible that they’ll need further treatments or procedures down the line.

Whether it’s glasses, dental braces or surgery to cure sleep apnoea, if you think your children could require treatment of this ilk it may be worth discussing this with your ex-spouse now. It may even be possible to include a private healthcare plan within your child maintenance order to cover for such eventualities.

Transportation costs

It’s also important to factor in transport fees into your child maintenance order. Especially if your kids regularly travel between their parents’ homes or require transport to and from school or extracurricular activities. It doesn’t matter whether it’s public transport, taxis or fuel, transport all adds up in a single parent’s tight budget. It’s an important logistical expense which should always be included.

There’s no doubting that divorce proceedings are complex and emotive beasts to deal with. But it’s essential to negotiate with a clear head to get the fairest deal for you and your kids, covering as many bases as possible and minimising the potential for grey areas in the future.

Be sure to touch base with a family law solicitor who will have expertise in drafting robust child maintenance orders which mitigate future disagreements.

For more reading around this topic, be sure to check out:

• Learn more about investing in the future for your kids through property
• Discover how the UK’s Child Maintenance Service works

Collaborative Article.