Losing your job unexpectedly is naturally stressful and likely to cause you financial anxiety. Adjusting to this sudden change requires practical steps to manage your finances, including informing your bank, mortgage lender, and other creditors. They may be able to offer advice and you can ask them to offer you a revised payment plan for your existing liabilities.
If you are paying Child Maintenance (CM), you should also tell the other parent of your child/children. If you are paying CM pursuant to a Child Maintenance Service (CMS) assessment, you should also contact the CMS. Ordinarily, the CMS will only review your income annually and re-calculate the monthly sum due. However, if you have an unexpected income change such as a job loss you may want to have the figure reviewed sooner than the end of the current year. This is often only possible if the change changes your usual income by 25% or more.
If relevant to your circumstances, review any court order, Form E, or D81 prepared within former financial proceedings on divorce. Also review any budget or schedule of expenditure you previously prepared. Then, make a list detailing your revised income from all sources, and establish where any immediate savings can be made.
If you think you may be entitled to state benefits, visit the government backed "entitledto" website where you can complete an online questionnaire / assessment and generate a helpful illustration.
The CAB may also be an invaluable resource at this time. The volunteers have access to budgeting materials and will offer practical tips as to money savings and debt management.
How to Request a Child Maintenance Variation
Once you have a clear idea of your changed circumstances, and have documentary evidence of your new situation, report your changes by calling the CMS, or online through your account where you can also complete an online questionnaire with your new details to generate an illustration of the new rate of CM you should be paying.
Provide these details to the parent of your child/children and ask them to agree the reduced rate.
If the receiving party won't agree a reduction, then you will need to consider how to formally change the payments. This will depend on whether you are paying CM pursuant to a court order and if so, the date of that order.
If your existing CM order is less than one year old, you will need to apply to the court to vary the rate. This could be a costly process if you require legal representation and is best avoided not least as, by the time your application is before the court, there is every possibility that your order will be more than 1 year old, and you will be then be able to seek a reduction through the CMS.
If your CM order is more than one year old, or you do not have an order, you may simply choose to pay CM at such reduced rate as is advised via the CMS online assessment process. The receiving party may then simply accept the new figure or seek to challenge it through the CMS.
If you are paying further to a current CMS assessment that is less than 1 year old, you will need to contact the CMS to request a reassessment.
What to Do If You Can't Afford Payments
Continue to pay whatever you can afford. Stopping payments altogether could lead to the receiving party applying to enforce any existing CM order through the court and seeking costs against you, or applying to the CMS for enforcement, or for your payments to be taken at source from your (future) earnings, benefits or pension. This is known as a Deduction from Earnings Order. Alternatively, the payments could be collected by the CMS directly from you: a service for which they charge (Collect and Pay). Paying as much as you can, pending an agreed or ordered reduction will demonstrate good faith and reduce the risk of disproportionate legal or other costs.
Will Your Payments Automatically Increase When You Find a New Job?
Once your financial circumstances improve, you or the receiving party will need to agree a further child maintenance variation or request a variation from the court or the CMS.
Navigating the complexities of varying child maintenance payments, whether by agreement, through the CMS or the Family Court, can be stressful and costly.
Here at Herrington Carmichael, we can advise you of your options and guide you through the best process for you. Whether you need advice on negotiating with the other parent, navigating the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), or understanding how to apply for a variation through the court, we are here to make the process as straightforward as possible. Contact us today for compassionate and practical legal support.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
