ABSTRACT
There are numerous statutory provisions which allow courts to make financial provision for children of the family. In this chapter, we shall be concentrating upon the financial provision and property adjustment elements of the Children Act together with an assessment of the Child Support Act 1991 which came into force in 1993 and has rarely been out of the headlines ever since. Historically, the law sought to differentiate between financial provision available to children during the course of matrimonial breakdown, eg divorce, and other proceedings where parents were in dispute over a private law matter connected with the child. With the advent of the Child Support Act 1991, the basis of support has dramatically changed from a ‘contest’ based approach to one which has a ‘formula’ as its foundation.
