Vivien Croly, of our Family & Divorce team, has written a case summary on Re N (A Child) (Financial Provision: Contact Travel Costs) [2026] EWFC 18 (B) for the Financial Remedy Journal.
Summary
Mother’s (‘M’) application for financial support for the benefit of the child pursuant to Schedule 1 Children Act 1989. She sought orders for periodical payments including backdated payments. The Father (‘F’) also sought that M reimburse him for various child-related expenses he had incurred both pre- and post-separation and sought to offset that amount against M’s claim.
Background
The parties are both 40 years old. M lives in the UK and is employed as a consultant providing IT services for one client through a limited company with a net annual salary of £56,505. F is an American citizen, but lives in the Caribbean. He is employed by an American market research company with a net annual salary of £138,816 plus discretionary bonus.
The parties began a relationship in 2023 and the child, N, was born in 2024. A few months later, the parties separated.
Lengthy and contentious Children Act 1989 proceedings ensued, with final order of HHJ Gillespie on 12 June 2025 setting out that N should live with M and spend time with F on an increasing basis, building to April 2026, following which she will spend time with F ‘on no less than six separate periods of time per annum, each for a consecutive fourteen-night period at a frequency of every two months’. F was permitted to take N out of the jurisdiction twice per year to travel to the Caribbean or the USA for a holiday with the remainder of his contact to take place in the UK. The order required F to meet N’s travel costs for contact.
M made her application under Schedule 1 Children Act in February 2025. A first appointment took place on 17 September 2025 and an FDR hearing on 8 December 2025 that did not settle. Both parties were litigants in person.
You can read the full article here.