Statutory child maintenance variation applications and capital assets

Family analysis: Liz Cowell partner at McAlister Family Law examines the implications of P v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and another [2018] UKUT 60 (AAC) for cases concerning the diversion of assets and deemed income. A change in regulations means this decision is only fully applicable for certain past decisions but there are still lessons to be learned for family law practitioners.

What are the practical implications of this case?

This decision is a sad example of how the system for child maintenance can fail the children for whom it was designed to protect. By the time this decision was made the children in the case were aged 25 and 23.

It is a decision on the issue of diversion of assets and deemed income from capital. The effective date of the decision being varied was 10 November 2006. This pre-dates the introduction of the new child maintenance system pursuant to the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 (CMOPA 2008). All assessments from 25 November 2013 come under the new system and some of the regulations that are considered in this...

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