A father has been ordered to pay £700 a month in child maintenance after the Family Court considered whether his overseas travel costs for contact should reduce his contributions.

The case concerned one child, N, a girl born in 2024, who lives with her mother in the UK. The mother applied for financial support under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989, seeking periodical payments for N’s benefit. There was no application for a lump sum or a transfer of property.

The court noted that the case fell outside the Child Maintenance Service because the father lives abroad and because his income exceeds the higher threshold. The mother’s net annual income was recorded as £56,505, while the father’s net annual income was recorded as £138,816. The father had been making voluntary maintenance payments of £400 a month, later increased to £525.

A previous child arrangements order provided for N to live with her mother and to spend time with her father on an increasing basis, building to 84 nights per year. The order also required the father to meet N’s travel costs for contact.

In the Schedule 1 proceedings, the mother sought monthly maintenance of £1,100 and additional contributions towards childcare and other child-related costs, as well as backdated sums. The father proposed a lower figure, arguing that his costs of travelling to see N and maintaining medical insurance for her should be treated in a similar way to school fees when assessing his income. He also sought repayment from the mother of sums he said he had already spent on contact travel.

The judge rejected the argument that travel and insurance costs should be deducted from the father’s income in the same way as school fees.

While accepting that travel costs were a relevant factor, the judge found that the father had effectively counted them more than once in his proposed calculations. The judge also described the father’s suggestion that maintenance should fall to £162 per month in later years as unjustified given his income.

The court ordered the father to pay periodical payments of £700 per month, payable on the first day of each month and reviewed annually in line with UK CPI. The father was also required to provide the mother with an annual summary of his income.

The payments should continue beyond N’s 18th birthday until the following September to allow her to complete her academic year. The judge refused the mother’s request for backdated maintenance and nursery costs, finding no demonstrated need for reimbursement, and rejected the father’s claim for a lump sum from the mother on the basis that there was no jurisdiction to make such an order.

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Case details

Case: Re N (A child) (Financial provision: contact travel costs)
Neutral citation: [2026] EWFC 18 (B)
Court: Family Court
Judge: Deputy District Judge Vickers
Date of judgment: 23 January 2026