News

Absent parents unlikely to end up on the road to nowhere

Release date: 9/2/2009

Plans to allow child maintenance officials to seize the driving licences and passports of absent parents are unworkable, a leading family lawyer warned today.

Legislation currently going through Parliament could enable the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) to confiscate the driving licences and passports of separated parents that refuse to meet their financial obligations - without the need to go to court.

But Sonia Bachu, a family lawyer at Harvey Ingram, warns this section of the new Welfare Reform Bill will be unworkable.

She says: "To impose these kinds of travel restrictions, CMEC has to be absolutely certain of wilful refusal or culpable neglect. I would expect the vast majority of parents who lose their driving licences or passports in this way, to challenge the decision and argue that they need to be able to move freely to earn a living. It's also likely that opting to disqualify a parent from travel may also be challenged as a breach of human rights.

"Clearly the threat of having travel restrictions imposed is a bit of a headline grabber and it would have to be a pretty sorry state of affairs to get to this point. But it should help concentrate the mind and act as an incentive for any parents involved, to try to negotiate an appropriate solution quickly and succinctly.

"However painful a dispute, there can never be a substitute for round-table negotiations or a specially-tailored collaborative agreement drawn up by a specialist family lawyer."