ABSTRACT
Orders for children are always called interim orders, because technically no order can ever be final in relation to a child whose maintenance may always come back before the court whenever appropriate. These orders can be made at any time if agreed between the spouses. Alternatively, if the children are ‘children of the family’ (see 11.7.1, above) who are not within the jurisdiction of the Child Support Agency (CSA) (which now deals with maintenance for all children whose biological absent parent the CSA can trace), an application can be made to the court by the parent with care even if the other spouse does not agree. If the child’s parents save the CSA the task of assessment by agreeing maintenance for the child between themselves informally, the intervention of the CSA at that time can be avoided as the agreement may still be embodied in an order of the court which is made by consent. The CSA must, however, assess the child’s maintenance and enforce payment against the absent parent if the child and/or the child’s custodial parent are on welfare benefits or a court order is transferred to the Agency (see Chapter 15).
