The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has issued guidance for separated couples on how to deal with cross-border child maintenance issues now that the UK has left the European Union.

These are some of the main points covered:

Enforcing decisions after Brexit

If you have a child maintenance decision that needs to be recognised and enforced in an EU country after Brexit, contact the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO) unit as soon as possible.

If your maintenance case was resolved and has been recognised by the relevant court in an EU country before Brexit, you should not be affected.

New cases after Brexit

If you make new or further cross-border applications after Brexit, your application may need to be made under a different process.

However, you should still contact the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO) unit for assistance with the enforcement of cross-border maintenance decisions.

Ongoing cases

If you have an ongoing cross-border maintenance case about payments for a child or spouse/registered partner, your case will continue unchanged.

Cases where all parties are in the UK

The Child Maintenance Service applies to cases where the paying parent, the receiving parent and the child are all in the UK; it will not change.

If you would like more information or advice about the issues raised in this article, or any aspect of family law please contact our expert legal team on 02080040065, by email at [email protected] or using the form below.

The contents of this article is general information only. The information in this article is not legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should obtain independent expert advice from qualified solicitors such as those within our firm.