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Hi all, I have 2 children. One has been living with me for a few months, the other is with his mother. When this happened she called the CMS to close the case as we agreed we would have one child each and therefore not make claims against eachother.
I have now recieved letters saying she is making a claim for one child, and she has told me I can make a counter claim if I wish. The problem with this is I earn more than she does, although she is married and her husband earns a decent wage too.
I also have much higher bills. Her rent is around £450 a month due to living in social housing. Whereas I am not able to get this and have to rent somewhere for £1000 just to be able to support my child and give them a room to stay in. The rent I pay is over half of my take home pay. I also have expensive child care costs for my child after school, whereas she is able to collect from school.
If I have to make the CMS payments it means I would not be able to afford to live where I am currently. In the area I live there is no where more affordable either. The only alternative will be living in a small studio flat with my 11 year old child.
What can I do?
hi,
I am sorry to hear that. can you get in touch with your ex and see if theres any way to come to agreement, and avoid the CMS route?
if she does not agree, then unfortunately you have to work with CMS and pay maintenance. you say you pay a lot in childcare costs. tell CMS and they will take that into account. they have something classed as special expenses, so that can possibly fall under that. also if your spending lot on fuel and driving long distance to pick up or drop kids, then they can give you reductions.
do you see the other child that stays with mum? if so how many nights? tell CMS.
do you pay into a pension? if so, tell CMS about that too.
I will try to call the CMS tomorrow. I have tried to speak to my ex and explain it will cause problems for housing our child and she does not care. She is so selfish and only cares about herself.
She originally told CMS to close the case, and as it was being closed she called them again to cancel this.
I do have to pay for childcare in the form of before and after school club. I will also have to pay for things over school holidays. I really do not know how I will be able to afford all of this.
We actually have the children combined for an equal amount.
What annoys me the most is that her husband earns money so she does not have to work many hours. She can live off his wage.
Whereas I have to work to earn, and this means I have to pay her even more money. If they took into account household income or expenses then the CMS would see how much better off she is than me, and that we have the children for equal amounts.
How is she in social housing if her husband earns a significant amount?
She was given the housing before he moved in with her. He doesn't earn a huge amount, about the same as I do
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