ABSTRACT
The background to the current regime of child support is in the concept of parental responsibility and the obligation to support a child which falls on all natural parents of that child, whether the parents are married or not. This is now formalised in a regime of statutory child support under the Child Support Acts, and is supplemented by provisions for child maintenance in the MCA 1973 and CA 1989. Under the MCA 1973, where parents are agreed on maintenance provisions, their arrangements can be included in the consent order formalising their own financial arrangements on divorce: otherwise contested cases must be assessed by the CSA under the Child Support Acts 1991-95, unless the arrangements are in respect of a child outside the CSA remit (ie, stepchildren whose natural parent cannot be found, children outside the age and other qualifying limits, and children requiring capital, property and/or top up orders). The CA 1989 provides for similar capital, etc orders to be made in the case of unmarried parents who are not therefore able to use the MCA 1973.
