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Hi All, I would like to know how to proceed to reduce the child maintenance I am currently paying for 4 years now on the basic I re married and my wife is expecting so I have think the current child maintenance should be reduced . Am I wrong? how to proceed?
I am also paying my ex her mortgage/ private school/ her maintenance / school tutor....so 70% goes away every month and struggling living with what is left.The court order was agreed in 2015 but I did not realised I will rebuilt my life so I did not fight for anything and now I am really struggling to rebuild my life with my new wife and baby.
Many Thanks
Oli
Hello Oli
You are correct in thinking that having a new child live in your household should decrease the amount of maintenance you are legally obliged to pay.
You have various options available to you now. As your court order has been in place over 12 months, you could go back to court to have the order updated to reflect your change in circumstances, you could ask the Child Maintenance Service, who are the Government’s statutory maintenance service, to calculate maintenance for you or, if you are able to comfortably discuss financial matters with your ex, you could set up an agreement of your own.
If you would like to set up your own family-based arrangement, you can find lots of tools and guides on the Child Maintenance Options website, http://www.cmoptions.org, which are designed to help parents wishing to set up this type of arrangement.
Of particular interest to you may be the Online calculator. This will provide you with an estimation of the amount that the Government would consider reasonable for you to pay based on current guidelines.
There is also a Discussion guide which can help with negotiations and a Family-based arrangement form which allows you to record your agreement.
If you feel this would not work for you, you could apply to the Child Maintenance Service. They can calculate an amount for you to pay and then leave it up to the two of you to decide how and when the payments are made via Direct Pay or they can manage the whole arrangement including collecting and passing on payments. This is called Collect and Pay.
If you would rather keep the arrangement you have, you may need to seek legal advice to have the terms of the agreement updated in court.
If you would like any further information and to receive a more personalised service, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly.
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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