New Child Maintenance Rules Target Shares

New Child Maintenance Rules Target Shares

Profits from share portfolios, held by divorced or separated fathers are set to be raided by the government under controversial new child maintenance rules.  Portfolio holders risk having the cash taken directly from their bank accounts if they make money from assets, which court decide is enough to justify upping their contributions.

The powers come with the DWP’s decision to scrap the Child Support Agency and replace it with the more powerful Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC).

The CMEC has been given wide-ranging new authority in a bid to claw back an estimated £3.5bn in unpaid support, including cash obtained from sales of property can now be intercepted by CMEC before fathers even receive it, as can portions of their wage packets.

Our view

It is interesting that non-paying fathers are rightly targeted.  However, why is it that some mothers can live in a home that is part funded by the system for example, interest payments on a mortgage, and then when they sell the house a few years later, they get to keep all the equity in the property.

What is wrong with this picture?

Useful links:

Check out our CSA maintenance calculator and related topics in the Divorce Adviser Channel

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