Consent order Compliance VS Maintenance

Canute wrote:

Fiona

Interesting. I have recently had a Consent Order signed by the judge that states what the CM is and gives amounts and dates.
How does that fit if my oldest now chooses to do a resit, but not at school or college? Am I correct that the consent order cannot be changed for 12 months by the CSA?

Canute

The law says that the court cannot impose an order for child maintenance or a variation when the CSA has jurisdiction (s8 Child Support Act 1991). Under the 12 month rule when a consent order is less than a year old the CSA has no jurisdiction so the courts can vary child maintenance.

The problem is the costs involved, which can easily outweigh any potential gains, so usually it is no one's interest to apply for a variation. Even if someone represents themselves a cost order may be awarded against them if they are unsuccessful. Therefore if circumstances change substantially usually it is better to negotiate a variation or keep paying until the year is up.

Sorry for the late reply Canute.

To be perfectly honest with you, I have a problem with both and more.

Not having been divorced before I am finding out how naive I have been.

Interesting that there are a few comments about the maintenance aspect of Consent Orders only valid for a year. I don't ever recall my solicitor ever mentioning this or it being on any Court documentation. If I had been informed of this I definitely would not have been so generous in the beginning. Thanks to this new info, I'm feeling even more ripped off and let down by the system.

As far as I am concerned everything about Child Support is wrong and I don't blame absent Parents for being difficult.

As a part time lecturer in a Further Education College I saw many young people arriving at our enrolment day this week who had only just decided that going back to college was their best option.
It is entirely possible that this decision is a very recent one.
Given that EMA has now stopped and there are no grants available for FE having an 18 year old school in college is a very expensive business.

Hadenoughnow