Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Adoption Chapter 7 - Miscellaneous Section 96: Excepted payments
242.Section 96 provides that payments may be excepted from section 94 in certain circumstances. The intention is allow payments to be made for reasonable expenses, such as legal and medical expenses in relation to an adoption, payments to a local authority or registered adoption society for expenses incurred for arranging for the adoption of a child whose country of origin is outside the United Kingdom, or for reasonably incurred travel and accommodation expenses where a child is being taken out of the United Kingdom for the purpose of adoption as permitted by section 85(2).
243.Subsection (1) provides that a payment is an excepted payment if it is made in compliance with a provision under this Act, the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 or the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987. The payment of reasonable expenses for an adoption, proposed or actual, to a registered adoption society is excepted by subsection (2) if it is made by a parent or guardian of a child, or by a person who adopts or proposes to adopt a child. Subsection (3) provides that a payment for legal or medical expenses is an excepted payment if it is incurred by a person in respect of an application to a court for an adoption order, a placement order, or an order under section 26 (Contact) or 84 (Giving parental responsibility prior to adoption abroad). Subsection (4) provides that a payment made where a child is removed from the United Kingdom for the purpose of adoption is an excepted payment if the condition in section 85(2) is met, and the payment is made for reasonably incurred travel and accommodation expenses.