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Child Maintenance: Dividends and Variation

Date:6 NOV 2009

Melanie Barnes Assistant Solicitor Family Law Associates LLP

The recent case of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Wincott [2009] EWCA Civ 113 [2009] 1 FLR 1222 may well increase the number of applications for variation of child maintenance to the Child Support Agency (CSA) as the Court of Appeal has made clear that dividends received by the non-resident parent (NRP) qualify as income for the purposes of variation within the Child Support (Variation) Regulations 2000 reg 19(1A) (the 'variation regulations'). This balances the unfairness of the current system which allows the NRP typically self-employed to reduce his basic salary to a minimum in order to achieve a lower child maintenance assessment. In order to include any additional income in any assessment it will still be necessary for the parent with care (PWC) to make an application for a variation to the CSA.

This article gives an overview of the procedure for variation of child maintenance so that clients can be advised of the process of application to the CSA as well as their rights to appeal if they do not agree with...

Read the full article here.