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First time poster so any advice will be warmly received.
I'm the proud father of three great boys and unfortunately their mother and I separated 24 months ago. We agreed at the time that she would buy me out of my share of the house / her pension and as a result I bought my own house close by so that I could have the boys overnight once per week along with after school once a week also. I currently pay nearly £600p/m as we worked out between us on the CMS site that based on these arrangements this is what I should be paying. No problems. Their mother and we were amicable and without any major issues.
As with many people, I occasionally have had to work away at weekends over the past 12 months and along with having a shoulder operation recently have missed having the boys over for 52 nights in the year by 8 nights. Not ideal, I agree and I now realise that I should have made a greater effort to have the boys over at other times to make up this deficit.
Roll on 12 months and at the age of 46 I have decided to take out a pension for the first time (I know, I know) but my ex has decided that this is because I want to reduce my payments to her and has told me she is going to involve the CMS. As it stands, I was not going to change the payments to her as I could still just about afford this but she has said that as I failed to meet the 52 weeks in the past 12 months then my payments will have to go up. She is aware of the reasons for this failure and will not take into account the after school care once per week as she said that is NOT how the CMS works. I am obviously concerned by this but will abide by the CMS decision.
Sorry, situation set - my question is will the CMS use the previous 12 month historical data for overnight care or will we agree this on a new basis moving forward and as it seems to take a couple of months for the pension to start from what point will the calculations be set?
Many thanks in advance
I'm tempted to tell you to dispute her claim of less than 52 nights per year, as you only just missed it. She can't prove you missed them, and when there's a dispute on the number of overnights, the CMS take a default position of 1 night a week to base their calculations on.
It generally takes them a while to re calculate anyway, so it won't happen straight away, can't be any more specific than that, sorry.
Hello DadOfThree
Following the Child Maintenance Service’s (the Government’s statutory maintenance service’s) guidelines, shared care of a qualifying child reduces a child maintenance calculation, and is based on the number of nights for which the paying parent is expected to have overnight care during the 12 months from the effective date of the maintenance calculation.
The Child Maintenance Service use the amount of gross income given to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by a paying parent, their employer or their accountant to work out the average amount of earnings, or, where the paying parent is self-employed, their taxable profits. The gross income is any taxable income before tax and national insurance is deducted, but after any pension contributions. For every case, the Child Maintenance Service will review the paying parent’s gross income figure each year in order to take account of newer income information given to HMRC.
You can find out further information on how the Child Maintenance Service calculate child maintenance in their "How we work out child maintenance" guide. The link is https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/325219/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf.
For a more personalised response, you may wish to contact Child Maintenance Options directly at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, 'Sorting out Separation'. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William
Thanks William,
It's always good to clarify the position as I endeavor to make this as simple and easy a process as possible. When the calculations are made you stated that these are guidelines and 'based on the number of nights for which the paying parent is expected to have overnight care'
My situation has always been that I fully intended to have my boys over at least once per week but due to wanting to keep my job and the necessity to have an operation this was unavoidable. Will this be taken into account or will the CMS ignore historical data and start with my intentions?
Many thanks
DofT
Hello Dadofthree
Many factors are taken into account when calculating child maintenance, and the shared care you have of your children is a large factor of your agreement with your ex-partner. However, your maintenance payments will be calculated based on the current overnight stays your children are having with you now.
If you would like any help or support negotiating your family-based arrangement, Child Maintenance Options can provide you with all the information that you need to maintain your family-based arrangement. They can also provide you with information about all your alternative options.
For more information and for a more personalised service, you may wish to visit the Child Maintenance Options website yourself at http://www.cmoptions.org.
Regards
William
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