Child maintenance: liability orders
This guidance explains what liability orders are in child maintenance cases and how to pay them.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
When a parent who should pay child maintenance does not pay the child maintenance they owe, we can try to take it from their earnings or from their bank, building society or Post Office account. If we cannot do that, we can apply for an order from a court that will let us take legal action. This is called a liability order.
A ‘liability’ means money that a person is responsible for paying.
A liability order is a type of court order. It recognises, by law, that a parent did not pay a given amount of child maintenance for a given period of time. We can ask the parent to make payments towards the liability order.
This guidance explains more about liability orders and how to pay them.
You may have heard different terms used to describe the parents in a child maintenance case.
In child support law:
- the parent who receives child maintenance is known as the ‘parent with care’ – we call them the ‘receiving parent’
- the parent who pays child maintenance is known as the ‘non-resident parent’ – we call them the ‘paying parent’
How does a liability order work?
We apply to the court to have a liability order granted against the paying parent. If we are successful and the court grants the order, we will be able to take a range of legal actions to collect the child maintenance you are owed. We can also register the order in the ‘Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines’. This means that the paying parent’s credit rating may be affected, and they may find it difficult to get a mortgage, loan or credit card.
What legal actions can we take once the court has granted the liability order?
We can take a number of legal actions, either one by one or at the same time. What action we take depends on your individual case, but it could include:
- asking bailiffs to negotiate a payment, or to seize and sell a paying parent’s belongings
- registering a paying parent’s debt on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, making it difficult for them to get a mortgage, loan or credit card
- using an ‘order for sale’ to sell a paying parent’s property or assets, and taking the proceeds from the sale
- sending the paying parent to prison
- stopping the paying parent getting or keeping a driving licence
How long will it take to get the maintenance I’m owed?
Because we have to follow a legal process to get a liability order, it could take anything from a few weeks to several months. We will contact you as soon as we’ve made any progress, so we will ask you to be patient. But we will take every action that we can to get the maintenance you are owed, and we will always keep you up to date when we have something to tell you.
What if the paying parent has regular maintenance to pay as well as the arrears they owe?
While the legal process is going on, the paying parent might still need to pay regular maintenance. If they don’t pay this, more arrears will build up.
To stop us from having to apply for more liability orders, we will always make sure that we have a liability order that covers all the arrears that the paying parent owes. This can sometimes delay our action on your case slightly, but it helps us to make sure that we can successfully enforce all the arrears.
Once the liability order is granted, we can’t change the amount on it. But we can apply for another liability order to cover any extra arrears.
What happens if the court does not grant a liability order?
We will always look at appealing against the court’s decision and we will keep you up to date with our progress. Without the liability order we can’t take legal action, but we will look at what collection action we can take other than court action. We will take every appropriate action that we can to get the maintenance you are owed.
Will you charge the paying parent for taking this action?
We can charge the paying parent for taking this action. We will tell the paying parent if we will charge them and how much the charge will be.
How to pay towards a liability order
If you have a liability order against you for unpaid child maintenance, we will have been to court to get this.
We can use the liability order to take enforcement action against you. As part of this action, we may ask you to make payments. When you make these payments, it is important that you let us know that the payment is towards the amount on the liability order.
If you do not tell us this, we may put your payment towards regular child maintenance or other child maintenance that you owe (other arrears).
We will give your liability order a reference number. We will put this number on the letters that we send to you about that particular amount of child maintenance that you owe. If you have more than one liability order, we will give each one a separate reference number. This number will be different from any reference number that the court has given you.
It’s very important to keep a record of your liability order reference numbers, and use them when you need to, because:
- if you give us a liability order reference number when you pay, we will put your payment towards that liability order
- if you only give us your case reference number, we will decide where your payment goes. We might not put it towards your liability order
- if you don’t use any reference numbers at all, or quote the wrong number, we might not be able to match the payment to your case. This could mean that we can’t put your payment with your case, and the amount you owe does not go down
If you pay by Direct Debit or a deduction from earnings order, you just need to keep a record of your liability order reference number in case you need to contact us about it. We will put your payments towards regular child maintenance or your liability order automatically. You can find out more about this at the end of this guidance.
We recommend that you pay regular child maintenance by Direct Debit or a deduction from earnings order, and pay your liability orders by separate standing orders. This will mean that you will not need to do anything if your circumstances change and we need to change the amount of your regular maintenance. You’ll also stay in control of paying off your arrears.
Paying regular child maintenance when you have a liability order
You must keep up with any regular child maintenance payments that you are due to make. If you do not, you will build up more debt and we will take further action against you. This could include applying for another liability order.
To make sure that we can match your regular child maintenance payments to your case, you must give your case reference number when you contact us to pay. We will then use your payment to pay your regular child maintenance first. If there is any money left over, we will use it to pay towards your liability order or any other debt that you owe on your case.
Paying towards more than one liability order
Sometimes, the court will grant separate liability orders for different periods of child maintenance arrears. We will give each one its own reference number, which will be different from any reference number that the court has given you.
It’s important that you keep a record of all of your liability order numbers. This is because you will need them if you want to control which part of your debt you pay:
- if you want to pay towards a specific liability order, you must give us the liability order reference number when you pay. We will then pay the whole amount of that payment towards that liability order
- if you want to pay towards different liability orders, you will need to make a separate payment for each one. You will need to give the reference number for each liability order with each payment. You can’t make one payment that covers two liability orders
- if you pay more than the total owing on the liability order, we will decide where the extra money will go. The first thing we will put it towards is any regular child maintenance that is due
If you have more than one liability order, we will often list all the reference numbers when we write to you. But if we are taking separate actions for each liability order, we might write separate letters.
Paying by a deduction from earnings order or Direct Debit
If you pay child maintenance through a deduction from earnings order or a Direct Debit, what we put your payments towards will depend on the rules shown below. You don’t need to give us any reference numbers.
- if you only have one liability order and you are not due to pay any regular child maintenance, the whole of your payment will go towards that liability order
- if you only have one liability order and you are due to pay regular child maintenance, we will use your payment to pay your regular child maintenance first. If there is any money left, we will use it to pay towards the liability order
- if you have more than one liability order and are not due to pay any regular child maintenance, we will use your payment to pay the liability orders off in the order that we decide
- if you have more than one liability order and you are due to pay regular child maintenance, we will use your payment to pay your regular child maintenance first. If there is any money left, we will use it to pay the liability orders off in the order that we decide
This is what we do in most cases. We have the right to change these rules, or to use different rules in some cases.
You can still make regular payments towards a specific liability order if you want to. To do this, you will need to set up a standing order using your liability order reference number or call us to pay by debit or credit card.
If you have more than one liability order and want to make payments towards each one, you can set up more than one standing order. Just make sure that you use the reference number for each liability order when you set up each standing order.
Changing the way you pay
If you have already set up your payments and you now want to change the way you pay, you will need to phone us on 0845 266 8792.
Where can I get more information?
Find out more about managing your child maintenance case.
Important information about this guidance
This guidance is only a guide and does not cover every circumstance. It only refers to the statutory child maintenance scheme provided by the Child Maintenance Service. It does not refer to any child maintenance schemes provided by the Child Support Agency. ‘Statutory’ means set up under the law.
We have done our best to make sure the guidance is correct as of 1 October 2013, but it may not reflect changes to the law or to our procedures after this date. You may want to get independent advice before making financial decisions based on the content of this guidance.