The legal position
Both parents have a duty to contribute to the costs of each ‘qualifying child’.1s1 CSA 1991 A child who does not live with both of their parents is a qualifying child if they are under 16, or aged between 16 and 19 and:2ss3(1) and 55 CSA 1991 •child benefit is payable; or
•they are in full-time, non-advanced education; and
•they are not married or in a civil partnership.
Where one parent lives in a different household (the ‘non-resident parent’), they are required to make payments to the parent who has day-to-day care of the child (the ‘parent with care’).