First time post! Hope someone can help me, getting no where with solicitors or the CMS service. In short, I have two sons aged 16 and 14. Both sons are with my ex-wife, we divorced in 2013. In 2018 my eldest moved in with me and my partner permanently. My youngest stayed with his mother. I claim CB for my eldest, my ex-wife claims CB for my youngest. Both children see their other respective parents on alternative weekends for the same number of nights. Would this count as shared care 50/50 and therefore remove the need to for me to pay Child Maintenance? I pay currently almost £300 per month and receive £28 (!) from my ex-wife, this feels grossly unfair and disproportionate. Any advice would be gratefully received. I am at a loss what to do and who to ask. Stumbled upon this site and hope someone can help me.
Hi,
With CMS they would still expect you to pay maintenance for child that lives with your ex. If you have equal day to day care of said child then you should not be paying maintenance.
I recommend you join this group for paying parents.very useful:
The term 'Shared Care' is hugely confusing, and can mean two different things :-
Definition 1
If it can be shown that both parents of a child share not only equal financial responsibility (including housing, feeding, clothing, paying for school trips, mobile, social clubs etc etc.), AND other aspects of care such as taking them to the dentist / doctor / school etc etc, then the CMS should take the view that caring is truly shared between the parents and thus that no Child Maintenance is payable from one parent to the other.
Definition 2
If a Child Maintenance case in enforced, this means that one parent has 'day to day' care of the child and is solely responsible for meeting those expenses (eg. clothing, pocket money, school trips etc etc). They are also responsible for housing and feeding the child when the child stays with them overnight. The CM amount is the sum payable to that parent (the Parent With Care) by the other parent (the Non-Resident Parent) in order to support them meet those expenses.
However in many cases, even when a CM case is enforced the NRP will often have the child stay with them at times. In this case the NRP has to provide housing and feed the child when the child stays with them - I understand that this is called 'overnight care'. In order to recognise this financial responsibility the NRP will receive a discount on the amount of CM they have to pay, which varies on a sliding scale depending on how often the child stays with them. For example if the child stays with them half the time then they actually get a 50% discount on the CM amount that they would have to pay if the child didn't spend any nights with them. The number of nights per year that the child spends with the NRP is called the 'Shared Care Band' and it determines the discount applicable.
However - in this circumstance the PWC still has sole financial responsibility for 'day to day' costs that I mention above (clothing, school meals, school trips and whatever else). So that is why
- Child Maintenance is still payable from the NRP to the PWC
- The NRP is not legally liable for ANY of the 'day to day' costs (school uniform and whwtever else)
Mods - if I am right can you consider making this a 'sticky' ? This confusion comes up time and time again (understandably).