The Property Transfer That Failed: A Warning for Parents Seeking to Avoid or Reduce Child Maintenance Payments

Transferring property to a family member will not necessarily place it beyond the reach of a child maintenance claim. In F v EE [2026] EWGC 249 (B), the court examined the substance of such an arrangement, found that it was designed to obstruct enforcement and took decisive steps to reverse it.

An attempt to reduce child maintenance

After the parties divorced, the mother applied for a capitalised lump sum to support their three children. The father had relocated outside the jurisdiction and stopped making child maintenance payments. Although the court ordered him to pay £150,000 towards maintenance and costs, enforcing that order from abroad was far from straightforward.

While the proceedings were under way, the father placed a UK property into a trust for his sister. He maintained that the transfer reflected financial assistance she had previously given him and an arrangement linked to property she owned overseas. The court was not persuaded. It found his explanation dishonest and concluded that the deed of trust had been created to obstruct the mother’s enforcement claim and undermine the maintenance order.

The sister’s claimed beneficial interest was rejected. The court treated the deed as a transaction at an undervalue whose purpose was to move the property beyond the reach of the mother and children. Relying on section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986, it set the deed aside, making the property available to satisfy the unpaid child maintenance liability.

A wider enforcement toolkit

The judgment demonstrates the breadth of the Family Court’s enforcement toolkit. Where children’s financial provision is at stake, insolvency legislation may provide a route to challenge transactions intended to frustrate an award. A capitalised maintenance award is still comparatively uncommon in Schedule 1 proceedings, but it can be particularly useful when a parent lives abroad and regular maintenance would be difficult to monitor or enforce.

Wealth is not always reflected in salary

Child maintenance may appear to be a calculation based mainly on income, but that can give an incomplete picture in international or high-asset cases. A parent may have substantial resources while reporting little taxable income. Careful investigation and early specialist advice can therefore be essential. Within the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) regime, an application for a variation may invite consideration of resources such as:

• Income from other sources: this may include rent, dividends or regular financial support from family members.
• Income deliberately redirected: unusually high pension contributions, for example, may be examined if they appear designed to reduce the maintenance calculation.
• Significant capital: where relevant assets exceed £31,250, excluding the primary home, the CMS may apply an assumed return of 8%. This can prevent a parent with considerable capital from appearing artificially poor – “asset rich, income poor”.

What parents should take from the case

• Plan enforcement early: a parent seeking maintenance should consider at the outset enforceability of an order, particularly where the other parent (or their assets) is overseas.
• Consider whether capitalisation is realistic: a lump sum may offer greater certainty when recurring payments are likely to be unreliable/unenforceable, however this is still rarely adopted.
• Scrutinise asset protection arrangements: trusts, transfers and asserted family interests may be tested against their real purpose rather than accepted at face value.

Sarah Norman-Scott, partner in the family department comments that paying parents should likewise obtain advice before considering asset protection strategies. However, there are genuine circumstances which reduce child maintenance payments such as certain mortgage payments connected with the family home, or travel expenses incurred in maintaining contact. Any such allowance must, however, be raised through the formal variation process rather than assumed or deducted unilaterally.

If you are facing issues with child maintenance, either as the paying parent or the payee, seeking early advice can make a significant difference. Our family team advises parents on schedule 1 applications, child maintenance, financial disclosure and enforcements. Contact our family law team on 0330 822 3451 for confidential advise about your circumstances. Alternatively, request a callback at a more convenient time.