Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Hi
i had a finding of fact that was dismissed. ex has given me interim contact but no overnight stays.
shes now after CMS costs, and wants to resolve this without going throught the CMS services, so between me and her. should i do this or go through CMS?
also i had to be lengthy contact centre costs, can i offset the costs i had to endure if she tries to backdate CMS costs.
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?
@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.
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 ?
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?