I am surprised more parents are not pushing back when the Family Court tries to include 'child maintainace' in financial orders.How olds you court order?
"You can’t ask the CMS to arrange maintenance if you get maintenance under a court order which is less than a year old."
The child maintenance service ("CMS"), and not the court, has jurisdiction to make an assessment of child maintenance when the child and parents are all habitually resident in the UK. This is very clear in section 44(1) of the Child Support Act 1991.
If the Judge deviates from the CMS calculation then you can appeal their decision and get it set aside, this has been tried and tested previously. The only exception is if you are a very high earner and earn above the threshold where CMS calculations are capped.
However, there are some circumstances in which the court can still make an order for child maintenance. The most common are instances such as if the child or one of the parents is not habitually resident in the UK, the CMS will not have jurisdiction (s 44, CSA 1991) and therefore the court is able to make orders for child maintenance.