[Solved] 50/50 shared care

Hi Struble,

I am currently going through a similar situation and posted a thread with some information for those with 50/50 shared care (which no one has read lol..).

Since your separation was six years ago I will assume you are still dealing with the CSA/old rules. In which case.. If you can prove that your child stays with you for more than 175 nights each year, your maintenance payment should be reduced by 50%. This may seem unreasonable/unusual but that is the situation as I understand it as the fallback remains who receives the child benefit (assuming she does) - you would need a court order/proof/her to corroborate this new arrangement in order to receive the reduction.

Under new rules/CMS, if you can prove that care is shared equally then no maintenance would theoretically be payable - old cases should transfer over gradually but who knows.

Most importantly - if you have a reasonable/amicable relationship then I would suggest speaking with the other party and raising these issues - it isn't fair for you to bear maintenance costs if care is genuinely shared equally and I would encourage communication/compromise to ensure that, if no maintenance is to be paid, costs could be shared (based on respective financial positions) such that your child/children benefit to the greatest extent, I.e. split the cost of school trips, any after-school activities, etc.

Here's a link to a recent thread about this

www.dad.info/forum/child-maintenance/36289-shared-custody-50-50?start=12

I did read your thread ISDAD but as I'm not too up on CSA/CMS rules and regs I could input.

Hi Struble

Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. We are unable to comment on Child Support Agency (CSA) case-specific enquiries as we are a separate organisation and do not have access to your case information. However, I can provide some general information.

Firstly, you may wish to know that the CSA and the Child Maintenance Service calculate child maintenance differently, including how they work out child maintenance when parents have equal shared care. You can find more information on how both organisations calculate child maintenance on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/overview.

Under child support legislation, regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education (A-level or equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid. When a child leaves full-time education in the summer, Child Benefit generally continues until the first week of September. You can find more information on when child maintenance stops on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/when-child-maintenance-payments-stop.

You may also wish to know that when using the statutory child maintenance service, a paying parent has a legal obligation to pay what has been calculated. It would be the paying parent’s decision if they wished to make any further contribution on top of their payments. For further guidance on equal shared care and how your child maintenance is calculated, you may wish to contact the CSA directly to discuss your query. You can find the relevant contact details on any letters that you may have received, or by visiting Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance/contact.

In terms of the other ways to put child maintenance in place, you could try setting up a family-based arrangement with your ex-wife. With this type of agreement, there are no strict rules to stick to. Therefore, both you and your ex-wife have the freedom to decide the terms of your own arrangement, such as how much child maintenance will be paid, and form that child maintenance will be paid in.

A family-based arrangement can include money and other kinds of support, such as you directly paying for things that your children may need. Although family-based arrangements are not legally-binding, many parents prefer them because of their flexibility and ease of which they can be reviewed, such as if you or your ex-wife’s circumstances change. You can find more information about family-based arrangements on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/family/index.asp. If you and your ex-wife can set up a family-based arrangement, the parent that made the application to the CSA can contact them directly and cancel the arrangement at any time.

To help you set up a family-based arrangement with your ex-wife, you may find our tools and guides page useful ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/toolbox/index.asp). You may also wish to view our page on talking about child maintenance ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/family/talking.asp).

For more information on the ways to set up child maintenance, please visit our website at http://www.cmoptions.org. Alternatively, you can call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on a Saturday. We 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