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My wife's ex partner hasn't paid maintenance for the last ten years. My wife's daughter has now moved in with him (16) and is still in full time education. He has filled with the CMS and we now have to pay him. How is this fair and is there any way we can take him to a civil court for unpaid child maintenance?
I am afraid there is no fairness in the CMS. I don't think a civil court case is worth the hassle and considering the state of the court system, you are only going to spend money for nothing. If your wife doesn't work, he has no claim against your income. If she works, she could increase her pension contributions for 4 years.
Increasing her pension contributions sounds like a good idea would that make much of a difference on how much we would have to pay? And if so How is the amount worked out ?
@paggers33 Gross salary minus pension contributions is the amount used to calculate the child maintenance payments. It is the only thing that is allowed to be deducted from your gross salary up to a certain amount. Normally, 12% won't be considered as a diversion of income. Depending on her circumstances (age, salary, when she started contributing to a pension, current value of pension pot, etc), she could contribute 20%, 30%, 40% or more. If you are paying into your pension too, you could look at reducing yours and increasing hers.
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