fbpx

Child Maintenance – Court Weighs Up Lifestyle Expectations and Resources

18th May 2021 By

Sensible people accept that they have a moral responsibility financially to maintain their children, whether or not they are born in wedlock. As a High Court case showed, the extent of such responsibilities largely depends on needs, reasonable lifestyle expectations and the availability of resources to meet them.

The case concerned a couple who never married but whose relationship endured for about seven years, yielding a planned and much-wanted daughter. The father, a highly successful entrepreneur, was worth about £190 million. The mother asserted that, while they lived together, there were few, if any, constraints on their spending and lifestyle choices. After their relationship ended, she launched proceedings against him seeking financial provision for their child.

Ruling on the matter, the Court noted that the father enjoyed some of the glamorous trappings of wealth, including a collection of cars worth tens of millions. However, his lifestyle was in other respects modest and he was not a man who would choose to shop in Bond Street or eat out regularly at smart restaurants. He was a good father to his children by a previous relationship and did not deny his obligation to provide for his daughter, with whom he wished to form a close relationship.

The mother, who had few assets of her own and negligible savings, described the extent of the father’s wealth as incomprehensible and pointed to the enviable lifestyle they enjoyed during their relationship. Whilst accepting that he could well afford to meet any reasonable financial order the Court might make, the father said he should not be required to sign a blank cheque for his daughter, who was aged four when the matter reached court.

The Court ordered the father to provide a £1.6 million fund so that the mother could buy a new home of her choosing for herself and her daughter. He was also required to pay associated acquisition, maintenance and repair costs. He would, however, retain ownership of the property and he would be entitled to sell it three months after his daughter reached adulthood or finished her tertiary education, whichever event came later.

He was directed to cover his daughter’s school fees and to pay a £109,000 lump sum to meet the cost of furnishing and equipping the property and to fund back surgery needed by the mother. He was ordered to buy the mother a new car every four years, up to a value of £110,000, and to pay child maintenance of £150,000 a year, including a carer’s allowance. The latter orders would cease to have effect when his daughter reached the age of 18 or completed her first degree.

Source: Concious

Latest News

Tenants Can Purchase Freehold When Landlord Cannot Be Found

11th June, 2024 By

The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 gives qualifying leaseholders the right to join together to buy the freehold of their properties – a process known as collective enfranchisement. A recent case demonstrated that this right can be exercised even when the landlord cannot be found. The leaseholders of two flats in a terraced house wished to purchase it from the landlord, but were unable to ascertain his whereabouts and therefore could not serve notice on him under Section 13 of the Act. They therefore applied for an...

Court Refuses to Set Aside Divorce Order Applied for by Mistake

6th June, 2024 By

While the courts have a range of powers to set aside orders, they will only exercise them in limited circumstances. In a somewhat surprising case that has attracted much comment, the High Court declined to set aside a final order of divorce that had been applied for by mistake. A couple separated in January 2023, after more than 21 years of marriage. In October that year, while financial remedy proceedings were still ongoing, the wife's legal representatives inadvertently applied for a final order of divorce in respect of her instead...

Waiting Time for Grants of Probate Falls

3rd June, 2024 By

Following concerns last year about delays in processing probate applications, recent figures from HM Courts and Tribunals Service show that waiting times for grants of probate are continuing to improve. The average time from submission of a probate application to probate being granted fell to 11.3 weeks in March 2024, a decrease from 13.7 weeks in February and 13.8 weeks in January. This is the lowest figure since March 2023, when the average was 10.8 weeks. The longest waiting time since then was in November, at 15.8 weeks: that month,...

Late Appeal Against Tax Penalties Rejected

31st May, 2024 By

It is incumbent on taxpayers to make sure they fully comply with their obligations to file returns and pay any tax due. The point was illustrated by a recent case in which a taxpayer whose return had not been received by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) failed to persuade the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that he should be permitted to appeal against the resulting penalties. On the evening of 31 January 2014, the man had completed his 2012/13 Income Tax return on HMRC's website. Shortly afterwards he went to Cyprus, and...