Hey all. Quick one - my sons mother recently remarried and as of last Monday has moved to the USA with my 14yo son and her American husband.
We had a family based agreement in place for child maintenance, and I have always paid this without issue, However, considering my son is now 4000 miles away, and it'll cost 1000 pounds in air fare to travel to see him where do I stand legally with regard to continuing to provide financial support?
Thank you,
Adam
Hi there
We've probably got a reciprocal agreement with the U.S. Meaning that you will have to continue to pay maintenance. It might have been better to discuss it with her before she left, perhaps you can contact her and get her thoughts on it and what arrangements she has in mind to facilitate contact....perhaps he can come here during the summer holidays. As you have a family based arrangement it's up to you both to negotiate a fair payment, hopefully she will take into account the cost of travelling and factor it in.
Best of luck
Hello Adaytay
With you having a family-based arrangement in place with your son’s mother, you may wish to try to discuss and negotiate what will happen with your maintenance payments. Although family-based arrangements are not legally enforceable, parents can decide the terms of their agreement to suit their current circumstances, as there are no strict rules or formulas to follow.
The Child Maintenance Options website has a useful tools and guides section that you and your son’s mother may find helpful when trying to negotiate your family-based arrangement. These can be found at http://www.cmoptions.org.
A receiving parent (referred to in legislation as the parent with care or the person with care) who lives abroad and wants to apply for maintenance from a paying parent (referred to in legislation as the non-resident parent) who lives in the UK should approach the equivalent of a local magistrates', or county court in their country to apply for a court order for maintenance to be made. This can then be enforced by the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO).
This is an agreement set up via the British Government with other countries, to enable citizens to receive maintenance if a parent lives abroad. You can find a full list of participating countries at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/countries-where-you-can-enforce-child-maintenance-decisions.
The REMO Unit helps to register and enforce child maintenance orders internationally. You can find out more at https://www.gov.uk/remo-unit-helpline.
For more information on all the different ways to set up child maintenance and for a more personalised service, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options website.
The DWP have a sorting out separation website that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William
I would speak to REMO as soon as possible to find out which country's rules would be used to determine maintenance - I suspect (only a guess though) that if you have a case in place in this country, then the REMO would enforce that, and I would dread to think what a US court would come up with in terms of maintenance, so I would definitely think it's worth considering opening a case yourself with CMS to get the UK calculation as the one that is used. You can also apply for a variation, once the case is opened, to have your expenses in travelling taken into account.
Thank you all for taking the time to respond. I have read what I can on the matter, and also spoken with my ex partner, and we have reached an agreement which is acceptable for both of us.