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Quick Overview of my situation.....
My Wife and I decided on an amicable separation about 4 months ago.
We have 2 boys aged 5 & 7
We agreed to 50 / 50 custody. The children stay with me for one week and then their mums for a week. The only stipulation she had was she picked them up after school everyday so she can see them everyday and provides dinner until I up pick them up after work. I was happy to pay child care after school but she refused. I pay her a fee each month to cover food costs on my weeks when she picks them up from school.
She agreed that I didn't need to pay her any maintenance as we agreed on 50 / 50 Custody.
I brought her out of the family home in which I now live in after we agreed a suitable figure including paying off all debts (Loan and credit cards)
The ex claims all child benefit.
I pay all kids hobbies, such as football fees, swimming fees, cricket fees etc. (approx. £100 per month)
We agreed to split costs such as clothes 50 / 50
Now 2 months after she moved out, she is now claiming I need to pay her £69 per week for both kids for the 2 weeks I don't have them.....
She works part time and claims different benefits.
I don't want this getting messy with courts or CSA getting involved. It just seems a mine field out their with all the rules and regulations!
I guess my point is, after a very amicable separation, an agreed equity pay out, her claiming all child benefit when in fact custody is 50 / 50, me paying out near on £100 a month in fee's for all hobbies she is now claiming I need to pay her more on top.
Can anyone shed some light on where I stand.
Thanks
Neil
Hello Neil.martin
With you having a family-based arrangement in place you may wish to speak with your ex-wife regarding maintenance payments. Although family-based arrangements are not legally enforceable, parents can decide the terms of their agreement to suit their current circumstances, as there are no strict rules or formulas to follow. It can include money and other kinds of support, for example providing school uniforms, toys and clothes.
The Child Maintenance Options website has a useful tools and guides section that you and your ex-wife may find helpful when trying to negotiate their family-based arrangement. This can be found at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The Child Maintenance Service takes shared care into account in different ways depending on the paying parent’s child maintenance rate. Shared care applies if the paying parent provides overnight care for at least 52 nights per year before a liability will be reduced. This is based on the agreement with the receiving parent and or evidence. Shared care is usually determined over a twelve month basis, but shorter periods can be considered in appropriate cases.
The paying parent’s weekly amount of child maintenance is divided between the number of children that qualify for child maintenance.
Shared care is then taken into account, based on the number of nights of shared care for each child. The amount of child maintenance to be paid is then reduced by up to 50 per cent plus a further £7 reduction, depending on the number of nights, as long as this is for more than 175 days or more a year.
The reductions for Basic and Basic plus rates are:
1 night per week = amount reduced by 1/7
2 nights per week = amount reduced by 2/7
3 nights per week = amount reduced by 3/7
175 nights or more = amount reduced by half and then minus a further £7.00 per child
A paying parent will usually have to pay at least £7 a week in child maintenance after shared care has been taken into account. However, if their child maintenance is set at Flat rate because the paying parent receives an income-related benefit, allowance or entitlement, then shared care for 52 nights or more a year will reduce child maintenance to £0 for that child. The paying parent also does not have to pay child maintenance for any other qualifying children who live in the same household as that child with shared care.
If child maintenance is set at Flat rate because the paying parent’s income is £100 a week or less, the Child Maintenance Service doesn’t take shared care into account at all. This means the amount of child maintenance won’t change.
This is only based on the number of nights a child stays with the paying parent and assumes that the receiving parent still carries out most of the day-to-day care. If the paying parent can prove that they carry out an equal amount of day-to-day care as well as having equal shared care then the Child Maintenance Service regards neither parent to be the paying parent so their child maintenance would be set as nil – even if one parent receives child benefits or tax credits as the child’s parent. Where there is equal day to day care, and there is no paying parent means that there cannot be a statutory case and the Child maintenance Service would not being able to process the application as there is no identifiable paying parent.
If a paying parent has more than one qualifying child and does not provide the same amount of care for all the qualifying children, liability will be worked out by adding a reduction for each child and dividing the result by the total number of qualifying children.
I have included a link on how the Child Maintenance Service works and how they calculate child maintenance that you may find useful, https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance.
For more information on all the different ways to set up child maintenance and for a more personalised service, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options website.
The DWP have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.
Regards
William
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