Financial Provision For Children
Make Sure Your Children Are Provided For Following Your Separation
As a parent, when you are separating, your priority is often your children and how their lives will be supported moving forward. Alongside the emotional impact, you will understandably have concerns around their living arrangements, school fees, and how ongoing financial support and wider finance for children will work. With clear legal advice, we will help you secure the financial support required to meet your children’s needs.
Protecting Your Children’s Financial Stability
Your child's financial needs, from day-to-day life and home environment to education, sit at the centre of financial discussions after separation. With the right legal guidance, arrangements can be made to help them feel settled and secure, with suitable finance for children in place.
Supporting You With Financial Provision For Your Children
Parents Navigating
Separation
During separation, there is often a need to make practical decisions quickly, particularly around day-to-day costs and where the child will live. We help you bring clarity to those decisions so your children’s routine experiences as little disruption as possible.
Parents Seeking Clarity Around Financial Responsibilities
It's not uncommon for one parent to feel unsure about the full financial picture. We take the time to explain what information, as well as the obligations and responsibilities each parent holds, so you feel informed and reassured as decisions are made.
Families With Complex
Financial Arrangements
When finances involve business interests, multiple income streams or high-value assets, getting a clear picture of what’s available to your children can be challenging. We guide you through this carefully, helping make sure that financial support reflects the lifestyle your children are used to, taking into account the financial resources and level of income available to either parent.
Parents Wanting to Protect Their Children’s Lifestyle
Where children are used to a certain way of life, there is often a wish to maintain that as far as possible. This may include schooling, activities, and the home environment they are familiar with. We help you explore how financial provision can be structured to support continuity, so your children feel secure as arrangements are put in place.
Supporting your children financially during separation?
Managing financial arrangements while working through separation can feel like a significant responsibility, particularly when your children’s needs come first. We provide clear, thoughtful guidance on financial provision for children, helping you put everything in place while wider financial matters are addressed.
Your Local Solicitors for Financial Provision For Children
When financial arrangements for children are being considered, clarity and reassurance matter. These decisions often shape your child’s home life, education and day-to-day stability, so it is important to approach them with care and a clear sense of where you stand.
As a boutique firm focused exclusively on family law, we regularly advise on financial provision for children, including complex financial matters and high-value assets. This allows us to guide you through these discussions in a calm, structured way, with close attention to what matters most for your children.
Our Offices
Private conversations about your children and their future can be emotional and deeply personal. Having a safe setting allows you to speak openly about your concerns, priorities and what matters most for your family.
We meet clients at our Heswall office on the Wirral or at our Boardroom within the Port of Liverpool Building. Both locations provide a calm, discreet environment where you can talk things through at your own pace.
Meetings are never rushed. You will have time to ask questions, reflect on your situation and assess the next steps with clear, thoughtful guidance in a setting designed to feel reassuring and supportive.
About Us
Hilton Spence Family Law is a boutique firm dedicated exclusively to family law. We work with individuals whose matters involve children, financial arrangements and wider considerations around long-term security.
Laura Spence understands that decisions involving children carry a different level of importance. Alongside her legal experience, she brings a calm, measured approach to guiding clients through financial discussions, helping make sure support is practical, considered and centred around the children involved.
Financial Provision For
Children in the UK
Financial arrangements for children are usually considered alongside the divorce itself. While the legal process of ending a marriage is usually straightforward, discussions around finances, particularly where children are involved, tend to require more careful thought.
Our aim is to put a structure in place that reflects the financial needs of the child or children, both now and in the future, while considering each parent's available financial resources. This can include child maintenance, school fees, children's housing needs and, where appropriate, additional provision through the court - such as periodical payments or a lump sum payment.
We guide you through each stage clearly, so you know what to expect and how decisions are likely to be approached.
Initial Discussions
This stage begins with gathering a clear picture of finances. This may include income, assets and existing arrangements for your children. It provides the foundation for assessing what level of child maintenance and wider financial provision may be appropriate.
Exploring Your Financial Options
Once the financial picture is clearer, discussions can begin around how your children will be supported. This may involve child maintenance, education costs, or housing arrangements, depending on your circumstances.
Reaching an Agreement
In many cases, terms are often agreed upon through discussion and negotiation. This allows parents to put an agreement in place that feels workable and focused on the children’s needs.
If Court Involvement Is Needed
Where an agreement cannot be reached, an application to the court may be considered. This can include Schedule 1 Children Act claims, particularly where additional financial provision is required beyond the standard level of child maintenance - for example, a lump sum, housing provision or periodical payments. The court can make an offer tailored to the needs of the children.
Alongside the Divorce: Financial Arrangements for Children
We support parents with a range of children-focused matters, helping ensure that all aspects of your child’s welfare are addressed with care and clarity. This may include:
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Child arrangements (where children live and the time they spend with each parent)
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Parental responsibility
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Changes to a child’s name
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Schooling decisions
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Relocation, including moving within the UK or abroad
We’ll guide you through each of these decisions in a calm and thoughtful way, so everything is considered at once, with your child’s best interests front and centre.
Planning Ahead For Your Children’s Financial Security
If you are married, in a civil partnership, or unmarried, and feel you need to explore your separation options, we can support you. You may not be ready for formal proceedings, but you want to understand what arrangements could look like and how your children will be supported over the longer term.
For many parents, there comes a point when planning ahead becomes important. Taking early advice will help you feel more settled about your position and the decisions ahead.
Gaining Clarity Early
Where circumstances feel uncertain, early guidance helps you build a clear picture of what financial provision may be appropriate. This allows you to take considered steps while maintaining stability for your children day to day.
Putting Agreements in Place
In some situations, it is possible to agree in advance on how each parent may contribute financially. This can help reduce uncertainty and provide a clear framework around how your children’s needs will be met if circumstances change.
Supporting Your Children Over Time
Financial provision is not only about immediate needs. Thoughtful planning can help see your children’s home life, education and wider lifestyle continue to be supported as they grow and reach the age of 18, providing consistency and reassurance for the future.
I had a meeting with Laura to go over matters with access to my daughter in Court. I can't thank her enough for the help she gave me - professional and very reasonably priced! 100% recommend any dads out there looking for a solicitor for child access in Court.
Client
Why Choose Hilton Spence Family Law?
Financial arrangements for children require careful judgment and legal knowledge. Any decisions that could affect your child’s home, education and overall sense of stability need to be handled with care and attention.
At Hilton Spence Family Law, we take a calm and considered approach. We understand that these discussions are not purely financial; they are about your children’s day-to-day lives and their future.
Clients value the time we take to listen and understand their circumstances fully. This allows advice to be shaped around what matters most to you and your children, with a calm, thoughtful and discreet approach that helps you move forward with confidence.
FAQs About Financial Provision For Children
Financial provision for a child depends on their needs and the financial positions of both parents. This can include child maintenance, housing, education costs and, in some cases, additional support to reflect the standard of living the child is used to.
Child maintenance is usually assessed through the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), based on the paying parent’s income. Where the paying parent earns above the maximum CMS assessment threshold, or where the situation is more complex, the court may consider top-up maintenance or further financial provision.
Yes, school fees can be included where appropriate. This may form part of an agreed arrangement or be addressed through the court, particularly where private education has already been established.
A claim made under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 allows the court to make additional financial provision for a child. This can include housing, lump-sum payments, or ongoing support, particularly where the non-resident parent has significant financial resources and standard maintenance doesn't reflect the child's needs. It is available to unmarried parents, as well as those who were married or in a civil partnership.
Housing is often an important part of financial support. This may involve a housing fund or property arrangement for the child and the resident parent (the person with whom the child lives), sometimes until the youngest child reaches the age of 18, at which point the property may be transferred back to the paying parent.
In many cases, financial arrangements continue until a child finishes full-time education. Some, such as housing provided under Schedule 1 Children Act claims, may end at this stage, depending on their structure. It is worth taking legal advice early to understand how provisions made for the benefit of the child will be structured and what will happen when the child reaches the age of 18.
Discuss Financial Provision For Your Children In Confidence
If you are considering financial arrangements for your children, clear early guidance will help you feel more settled about your position and the next steps ahead. Meet with us at our Heswall office on the Wirral, or in our Liverpool Boardroom, for a confidential discussion. Every conversation is handled with care, discretion and close attention to your family’s needs.