1st time CMS help

hi,

If she is reasonable, I suggest keeping CMS out of it. With CMS you will have to pay more if you do over-time, get pay rises, bonuses. I hope you get overnight contact once court hearings are over, then you should be able to lower your maintenance costs. can use the CMS calculator to work it out: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintenance

thanks.

can she backdate CMS payments?   it really puts me in a whole as she left me paying our huge mortgage.  shes also asked i sell the house and give her share, which leaves me struggling to find a place.  i probably cant afford one on my own, but thats a diff story.

anyway i can claim contact centre costs?

You can offset costs but its not straightforward..

Eg if you incur £200 of costs then this comes off your annual gross salary and then you use that figure to work out CMS using the calculator. I think for every £100 in costs it reduces CMS by £1.50 per month (or something like that)... You can play around with the calculator online..

Also not all costs can be offset, you would need to read guidance. 

ok most helpful thanks.

is there anyway when you dont pay CMS, say if we both have shared residence 50/50 ?

@Vik2001 if she goes through CMS, she can not back-date. e.g. if she opens CMS claim tommorrow, they will not do any back-dated payment before this date.

@Vik2001

We're currently trying to receive confirmation on this; stories differ however the Gov website and speaking to CMS seem to identify that in a 50/50 shared care arrangement order made by the courts, you 'should' under normal circumstances not have to pay anything.

However, we know the whole CMS system is archaic and the 'bracketry' system they use simply doesnt work.  The whole CMS system needs total reform.....the question is, how do we achieve this?

CMS state in their booklet, if there is equal day-to-day care of children, then no maintenance is payable.

@bill337 how is equal day to day care defined?  is that pure 50/50 shared care

@Vik2001 this is from their booklet:

What happens if the day-to-day care of a child is equal between a paying parent and a receiving parent?

In this situation, the paying parent does not have to pay any child maintenance for that child.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance

so ideally you would need a court order stating there is 50/50 equal day-to-day care of children. I don't have it but it would look something like 3 day on, 3 day off. or 1 week on, 1 week off with kids.

CMS will only accept 50.50 if there is a clear court order confirming or both parents agree, otherwise if there is a dispute they use many factors such as who takes to Dr's, dentist, what days of care, overnights etc.. As keepitsimple says it's not as straightforward.. 

what is the admin fee % CMS charge if i was to make payments via them?