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I have seen there are quite a few threads on here regarding maintenance and joint custody but I just want to see if anyone else has experience of my situation.
I am divorced since Aug 2017 and for the past 2 years my income has averaged at the £23k mark. I'm self employed and the business is slowly building but I expect the next few years to be sub £30k income possibly maxing out at the hopefully £50k mark.
Ex-wife is earning probably £120k net of pension contributions.
I have spoken to the CMS and they have said that even though the rules state that joint custody means no maintenance is due, I am still allowed to make a claim.
I am struggling to understand why I am still able to make a claim if this rule is stated. I recall a conversation with either the CMS or a barrister I spoke to where it was stated that if the is a significant disparity in incomes, this rule would be ignored and a claim could be awarded.
As the my income is 25% of my ex-wife's would this be applicable?
Hi there
It's somewhat of a grey area, yes it does state that where there is equal 50/50 shared care, that no maintenance is payable, but sometimes proving it is difficult.
Generally, the parent that claims the child benefit is deemed to be the principle parent. I'm assuming that your ex earns over the threshold to claim the child benefit, so if you are in receipt of it, a claim would most likely be favourable for you.
If your child lived with the mother more of the time, she would be able to claim a percentage of your income in CM, regardless of her earnings.
Thanks Mojo
That seems to fall in line with what I have been told.
I'm going to wait until the new year before I put a claim in though I think. Fingers crossed!
Great... if you need anything further please don't hesitate to ask. Fingers crossed for you.
Has the financial agreement been finalised with the divorce - if not, then it's possible that you could go for spousal maintenance, certainly until your income rises.
Yes a very inequitable settlement at divorce was executed and I spoke to a barrister about reviewing it (agreed prior to me setting up my own business and earning a lot more that I am now and never imagining we'd split up) but I am unable to re-open it. His advice was don't be so nice, plan for the worse happening and look at maintenance to try and get help with money.
So I have applied and had a response from the CMS.
The application has been declined based on the fact that as we have 50/50 custody and we pay for our own clothes, costs activities, holidays, etc for our child then there is no maintenance due.
I have queried this with them based on the fact that my earnings are around 1/5 to 1/6 of mum's earnings but they have said this is irrelevant.
It's strange that should I have child for 7.5 more nights a year then I would be eligible and it is very black and white.
One factor that may come into it is that as child is at a private school, mum may need to have child board/stay over at the school once a month or so which would effectively reduce the number of nights child is in mum's care but I'm not sure if this would qualify as a non care night.
Any advice on the above would be appreciated as I'm not sure how or if this could progress.
Thanks
Have a read through the CMS regulations, it’s heavy reading but you may find something in there that would help.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/2677/pdfs/uksi_20122677_301114_en.pdf
Thanks for posting that.
I have taken a good look at it and I can't see anything that would go in my favour unfortunately.
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