Stephen Lawson, Partner at Forshaws Davies Ridgway, undertook an unprecedented case ten years ago which has finally resulted in a change to the law.

The initial case involved a parent who had been trying without success to recover owed child maintenance payments when the ex-partner (the non-resident parent) passed away.  Under rules at the time the Child Support Agency was unable to recover the owed maintenance from the deceased parent’s estate as it simply did not have the legal power. 

Stephen and his team argued that as the CSA should have had the power to recover these owed payments then they were liable for these costs if they did not have the ability to collect from the non-resident parent’s estate.  This lengthy case was eventually settled out of court in the favour of Stephen’s client and was instrumental in starting a Government investigation in to the workings of the CSA. 

With the well known problems facing the CSA in recent years Stephen was eventually invited to Westminster to liaise with the Department for Work and Pensions on CSA reforms. 

The lengthy reforms are now starting to be introduced through, the newly formed replacement for the CSA, the Child Maintenance Executive Committee (C-MEC) which was formed in 2009.  The continued reforms saw on Monday 25th January 2010 the changing of law so that C-MEC now has the powers to recover owed maintenance from the estate of a deceased individual where this is appropriate.

Stephen Lawson commented, “Over the last ten years we have battled to create a fairer system for parents with care and non-resident parents alike. As a lawyer there is no bigger thrill or accolade than seeing the law changed in a practical way which will ultimately benefit children.  However, the winner here is children who are owed maintenance payments from a parent who has unfortunately passed away.  These new powers now assist C-MEC in recovering these payments with minimal fuss.”

Stephen continued, “Over the past ten years, I have been honoured to be able to help so many parents who have had disputes with the CSA.  The last few years have seen many changes to how child maintenance disputes are administered and I wish I could say the system is now perfect but unfortunately this isn’t yet the case.  Many parents still have serious problems regarding child maintenance payments due to inefficiencies and negligence within the system.  Receiving the right legal advice could be key to them achieving a satisfactory outcome.”

The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.