{"id":20790,"date":"2022-11-26T20:43:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-26T20:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/?p=20790"},"modified":"2022-11-27T16:13:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-27T16:13:13","slug":"atypical-families-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/atypical-families-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"Atypical Families"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/atypical-families-maintenance\/#Maintenance\" title=\"Maintenance\">Maintenance<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/atypical-families-maintenance\/#Guardianship\" title=\"Guardianship\">Guardianship<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/atypical-families-maintenance\/#Maintenance_Orders\" title=\"Maintenance Orders\">Maintenance Orders<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/atypical-families-maintenance\/#Relationships\" title=\"Relationships\">Relationships<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/atypical-families-maintenance\/#Inheritance\" title=\"Inheritance\">Inheritance<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/atypical-families-maintenance\/#Failure_of_Provisions\" title=\"Failure of Provisions\">Failure of Provisions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Maintenance\"><\/span>Maintenance<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Child and Family Relationship Act 2015 amends the law on the maintenance of spouses and children to take into account the fact that the unmarried parents of a dependent child may be parents of the same sex.\u00a0 They allow the Court, in certain circumstances, to order payment of maintenance by a cohabitant of a child\u2019s parent for support of the child.<\/p>\n<p>The amended legislation recognises that parents of the child, who apply for maintenance for the dependent child, may be parents of both sex, if they are parents through donor-assisted human reproduction or adoption.<\/p>\n<p>The amendments ensure that if they are not civil partners, they may seek maintenance for a dependent child.\u00a0 The responsibilities of parents to a civil partner are taken into account in deciding whether to make a maintenance order.<\/p>\n<p>A parent of a child or a person in loco parentis may apply for maintenance for a dependent child from the parent\u2019s cohabitant, provided the cohabitant is not a parent of the child and he or she has been appointed as a guardian.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Guardianship\"><\/span>Guardianship<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A cohabitant does not automatically become a guardian.\u00a0 This reflects the principle that only a cohabitant, who has established a legal relationship with a child, may be subject to maintenance liability. The provision applies only where the cohabitant from whom the maintenance is being sought is not a parent of the child.\u00a0 Where the cohabiting couple are both parents of the child, an application may be made under above-mentioned provisions.<\/p>\n<p>An application may be made by a person who is not the child\u2019s parent to seek maintenance from a parent\u2019s cohabitant who is a guardian.\u00a0 Equivalent provisions are already made for applications for maintenance from spouses or from parents to take account of the unusual situations where another person who has no maintenance responsibility for a child may be caring for that child.\u00a0 An order would not be made under the above provisions, unless the cohabitant is not complying with that order and the Court considers it necessary.<\/p>\n<p>A maintenance order under the above provisions is discharged when the dependent child reaches 18.\u00a0 \u00a0Guardianship of the cohabitant ends when the child reaches 18, so the maintenance obligation also ends.<\/p>\n<p>Civil partners are included within the categories of parents who can apply for a lump sum towards the birth or funeral expenses of a dependent child.\u00a0 Civil partners may apply for such sums in respect of a dependent child.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Maintenance_Orders\"><\/span>Maintenance Orders<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Family Law Act contains provisions which allow a Court to secure maintenance payments that have been ordered against a cohabitant for the benefit of a dependent child and provide the Court with the power to specify how the payments are to be used for the benefit of the dependent child.\u00a0 The definition of a cohabitant, as inserted by the 2010 legislation, is amended.<\/p>\n<p>The Court may make an order to secure periodical maintenance that has been ordered against a cohabitant of a parent under the legislation.\u00a0 The amendment provides that where a cohabitant is ordered to pay maintenance in respect of a dependent, the same security as may be provided against spouses, parents etc., can be provided for in the order.<\/p>\n<p>If the Court makes an order to secure a periodical maintenance order, it has the additional power to specify how the maintenance payment is to be applied.\u00a0 This may include the provision of suitable accommodation for the dependent child to whom the maintenance payment relates.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Relationships\"><\/span>Relationships<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Child and Family Relationships Act 2015 amended the Succession Act.\u00a0 Civil partners may both be legal parents of a child through donor-assisted human reproduction or joint adoption.\u00a0 Joint adopters need not necessarily be married or civil partners.<\/p>\n<p>The Succession Act was amended to confirm the parentage of children born as a result of a donor-assisted human reproduction procedure.\u00a0 See the separate chapter on parties who are deemed to be parents in this case.<\/p>\n<p>Where children are adopted by couples who are civil partners or cohabitants, are the children of donor-assisted human reproduction couples who are not married to each other or are civil partners, provision is made in the Succession Act to apply in relation to the estate of a deceased parent, \u00a0in accordance with the rules of parentage.\u00a0 See the separate chapters in relation to parentage status in this case.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Inheritance\"><\/span>Inheritance<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The child of a deceased person has a right to inherit a share of the estate if that person dies without making a will.\u00a0 If the person makes a will but makes no or inadequate provision for the child, the child may apply for provision in accordance with section 117 of the Succession Act, if proper provision has not been made for him by the will or during his lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>A child is precluded from applying for provision out of an intestate&#8217;s estate, , if the child is also the child of the surviving civil partner of the intestate. This is a recognition that, \u00a0the civil partners may both be parents of a child through joint adoption or through donor-assisted human reproduction. A similar exclusion exists in relation to a child of both the intestate and the surviving husband or wife.<\/p>\n<p>Provision is made in relation to disclaimer.\u00a0 The effect of disclaimer is amended to make provisions for civil partners.\u00a0 If all or part of an estate of a person who has died intestate is disclaimed, the estate is distributed as if the person who disclaimed died before the intestate without having children.<\/p>\n<p>There is an exception where the person is a spouse, civil partner or direct lineal ancestor of the intestate.\u00a0 It provides for situations where civil partners are both parents of the child.\u00a0 In this case, if one parent dies intestate and the other disclaims, the rules provide that the child would inherit the estate, as is the case with children of a marriage.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Failure_of_Provisions\"><\/span>Failure of Provisions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Section 117 of the Succession Act, which allows for application by a child where inadequate has been made by a deceased parent, is amended by the 2015 Act.\u00a0 The Court will not make provision, which would affect the legal right of the surviving civil partner, unless it is of the opinion that it would be unjust not to do so.<\/p>\n<p>The amendment takes account of the fact that the surviving civil partner may also be a parent of the child.\u00a0 In this case, Court will not make provision for the child that affects the legal share of the civil partner or any legal share of the civil partner on intestacy.\u00a0 The same provisions apply in relation to a child who is a child of an intestate and who may or may not be a child of the surviving spouse.<\/p>\n<p>A child may not apply for a remedy if his parents have made a disposition of property to the parent\u2019s civil partner when the child is a child of both the parent and civil partner.\u00a0 A similar exclusion already exists where the child is the child of both parents and the parent\u2019s spouse.<\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-20790\" data-postid=\"20790\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-20790 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maintenance The Child and Family Relationship Act 2015 amends the law on the maintenance of spouses and children to take into account the fact that the unmarried parents of a dependent child may be parents of the same sex.\u00a0 They allow the Court, in certain circumstances, to order payment of maintenance by a cohabitant of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20790"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20820,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20790\/revisions\/20820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}