Persistent Problems, Finding Solutions: Child maintenance in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

by Ian Curry-Sumner (Editor), Christine Skinner (Editor)

Against a backdrop of high rates of relationship breakdown among families with dependent children, the Netherlands and the UK have wanted to find ways to maintain the financial obligations of separated parents for their children. Both countries have been witness to a shift in focus from ex-spousal maintenance to child maintenance. Increasingly, child maintenance is the only surviving financial obligation of parental relationships post-separation, and it is believed that it can make an important contribution to the income of the household in which children live most of the time - that is, if it is paid. With this in mind, the obligation to pay child maintenance is of increasing importance to a growing number of families. It is, therefore, crucial that sufficient attention is paid to the methods for determining child maintenance, as well as the problems that arise in terms of non-payment. Yet, the UK and the Netherlands have faced similar problems, with their child maintenance systems failing and both having identified a need for further legislative action. This book examines the existing problems and discusses the potential solutions to this issue.

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010