How can I secure financial provision for my child? A guide to Schedule 1 applications

Schedule 1 applications are brought by one parent who is seeking financial support for their child from the other, particularly where they are not married. They continue to be relatively rare; not many parents know that they exist or that they may be eligible to pursue one. Thanks to the recent of case of N (A child) (Financial provision: contact travel costs), these applications are back in the spotlight.

Why make a Section 1 application?

Such applications are generally used where the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) cannot provide a full assessment for child maintenance. This can be because of one of the following instances:

• The CMS can only calculate child maintenance based on gross income of up to £156,000 per annum. If the paying parent’s income exceeds this, the court can provide an order to top up child maintenance taking into account all the paying parent’s income. 
• The other parent lives abroad – the CMS cannot deal with maintenance in these circumstances.
• The applying parent is seeking financial assistance that the CMS cannot order, such as:
  • lump sums to provide items needed for the child. For example, furniture, a car to transport the child in, or items needed for their education; or
  • an order that a property be provided to house the child (and therefore the parent with care) for example, whilst the child is a minor/in education.   

How Schedule 1 applications work in practice

When deciding whether to make a Schedule 1 Order, the court must consider:

• the financial resources of each parent
• the financial needs, obligations and responsibilities of each parent
• the financial needs of the child
• any financial resources the child may have
• any physical or mental disability of the child
• the trajectory of the child’s education and training.

In the case of N (A child) (Financial provision: contact travel costs),the court was able to hear the application for child maintenance as the father lived in the Caribbean and his income exceeded £156,000 per annum gross. The mother had income of £56,505 net of tax. The parents had already obtained a court order that their daughter will live with her mother in the UK and spend time with the father to include periods in the Caribbean. The father said that the mother should contribute towards the costs of the child travelling to the Caribbean to see him. The mother wanted child maintenance and a lump sum to repay sums she had spent on the child in the past. 

The judge decided that the father could afford to pay child maintenance and the travel costs associated with the child’s travel. While the mother had sufficient income to maintain the child, the judge nonetheless found that the father had a responsibility to contribute to the child’s upbringing. The mother’s lump sum was rejected because the father did not have money in reserve to pay it, and the mother had been able to afford the backdated sums she was claiming. The judge ordered that the father pay child maintenance to support his child’s educational, housing and living costs of £1,091 per month in accordance with a formula used for top up cases such as this, less an amount representing the travel costs to enable the child to see her father and less the sum paid to maintain an insurance policy for the child. The periodical payments will be in place until at least the child’s 18^th birthday.

 Whilst the parties did not get everything they wanted, the judge provided a balanced decision with the best interests of the child at the heart, as is the case in child-based court proceedings.

Is a Schedule 1 application right for me?

If you find yourself in the circumstances described above and have exhausted non-court options such as mediation and negotiation (or these options are not appropriate), an application such as this might be open for exploration.

There are some important first steps to consider before issuing proceedings.

• Double check that yours is a case where the CMS cannot help.
• Obtain legal advice at an early stage to ensure that you have all the information required to decide your next steps.
• Consider whether the other parent’s financial situation realistically allows for further provision – if not, it may not be worth pursuing the matter through the courts.
• Discuss with your lawyer whether you are exempt from attending a MIAM (Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting) with the other parent. Unless you are exempt, the court will expect you to have done this.
• Start gathering a bank of evidence relating to your financial position and child-related expenses, so that a detailed and realistic picture of what you need can be formed.

Birketts’ family team is on hand to discuss these points and more to help you decide whether a Schedule 1 application is the best option for your circumstances and if so, support you through each stage of the process.