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Hi,
We have share care (by court order) of our children, my ex has them Sun,Mon,Tue I have them Wed,Thu and we alternate weekends.
I'm currently paying £388 a month in child maintenance but my ex says I have to pay for the school dinners for one of the children (about £80 per month).
I thought the child maintenance was supposed to cover the child care costs?
Am I mistaken?
Hi there
I'm assuming you have two children, if she wants you to share this expense, is she willing to share the child benefit and working tax credits?
That is a good point and I suspect not.
I think it is more likely that this is the tip of the iceberg. Once she has me paying out for school dinners then she will want me to pay for clothes, trips and food on top of the maintenance.
I have spoken to the CMA and they have said that she has no right to legally enforce the extra payment. Although it is difficult when she is sending my son to school with no way of paying for his lunch. She has told him that he needs to get the money for his dinners from me. I have replied to her email and suggested that if she agrees to me paying her £80 less than the CMA have told me I have to pay then I would gladly pay for my sons dinners.
The problem is my son is the loser in this unless I pay for his meals.
Hello babybel
Child maintenance is a contribution towards the costs of bringing up a child and this includes not only items such as food and clothing, but also it is a contribution towards the home that the child lives in and the associated costs of running that home.
If you and the other parent have a child maintenance arrangement set up between the two of you (a family-based arrangement), there are no set rules to follow, which means you can both agree whether to include your child’s dinner money costs as part of your arrangement.
Along the Government’s guidelines, if you have a case in place with either the Child Support Agency (CSA) or the Child Maintenance Service, you are only responsible to pay the figure calculated by them. You would not be obliged to pay any additional costs unless you chose to do so.
If your current child maintenance arrangement is a court order, you would need to refer back to your documentation for information on the content of your agreement. If this is not clear, you may wish to seek legal advice for clarification.
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
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