[Solved] Child Maintenance - Limited Company Director

Hello willgetthere

The Child Maintenance Service, which is the UK Government’s statutory scheme, uses the amount of gross income given to HM 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. For every case, the gross income figure will be reviewed each year in order to take account of newer income information given to HMRC.

If during the year earnings from employment change temporarily from week to week due to overtime or bonuses, this usually would not make a difference to the amount a paying parent must pay in the 2012 scheme, however, if an arrangement was in place with the Child Maintenance Service you are required to keep them up to date with any income changes you have.

If you are able to negotiate with your wife, Child Maintenance Options can help by providing information about all your options regarding a maintenance arrangement for your children. Many parents do now choose to sort out their maintenance between themselves as it can be the quickest and easiest way of setting up a maintenance agreement and although family-based arrangements are not legally binding, they are very flexible and can be easily changed.

There are some supporting tools on their website at https://www.cmoptions.org that might help you both come to an agreement and with their help and support you may find an agreement easier to establish that you are both happy with. You can also find their Online Calculator available to calculate an amount of maintenance that the Government consider a reasonable payment and you and your wife might find this a good starting point for your negotiations to come to an arrangement that suits you both.

If you feel like you would not be able to agree to a family-based arrangement then you do still have the option of using the Child Maintenance Service. This is the statutory scheme and they can act as a third party on your behalf if you wish. If you decide to ask the Child Maintenance Service to arrange your child maintenance for you in the future, your responsibility to pay will start from around the point that they made contact with your wife. For further information about putting in place a statutory arrangement and the fees involved with this, you will need to contact Child Maintenance Options directly and all their contact details can be found on their website.

Another choice you have for arranging child maintenance is through the courts in the form of a Consent Order in England and Wales and Minute of Agreement in Scotland. This is an agreement where you and your wife with the support of a solicitor would need to agree what to include then the agreement is presented in court and is ratified. As there are usually costs involved in this type of agreement they are usually done at the same time as parents are going to court for other things such as divorce or a division of assets.

You may also be interested to know 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 http://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/

For more information and for a more personalised service, you may wish to visit the Child Maintenance Options website yourself.

Regards

William

I was advised by CMO that Child Maintenance would be based on Gross Taxable Profit of the Ltd Company

Hi willgetthere, did you get any conclusive info regarding this? Only ask as I'm looking at buying a company and will In turn become a director, I just want to see if it's worth me doing this?
Getting fairly down about it now , I have so much ambition to better myself and basically have been told by the cms not to earn any more money, or create any situation where I may be successful!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ultimately, I wouldn't let the CMS dictate what you plan for yourself. Child maintenance will make a difference, but it's still only a percentage for your income, and it will stop when your children reach 18/20 and everything after that will be yours.