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So me and the ex went our seperate ways just before christmas. I have both my boys every wednesday, every friday and the ex picks them up either every other sunday at 5-30pm orevery other saturday at 1pm during ther summer holidays/5pm when the football season is on (I take one to football every saturday as he loves it- mostly non league- the other goes to drama classes)
This has been consitent since we split and we have been to mediation and agreed this but she wont have it written up (she has been thinking about it for 5 weeks or so) and definately wont agree to a consent order in the courts. This for another post!
I pick them up wednesday and take them to school on the thursday and pick them up on the friday and she picks them up on the weekend. She lives about 30 miles away. So I drive 3 round trips and she drives for one. So the CMs tell me I can get a special dispensation or some such words for the costs of driving.
So, being fair I claim for 2 round trips (I do 3 and she does 1). I quote the HMRC costs per miles (i think its something like 45 per mile for so many miles and then 25p per mile). I get a letter telling me that they use the HMRC fuel costs data which in my case if 10p per mile. I am a tradesman and dont have a car and use my van. Its relatively new (66 plate) and it does up to 20K between services but it measures the amount of water and soot in the oil and tells me when I need a service (so far about 13k miles) so the more miles I do per week, the quicker the serivces come round. I tell the CMS this and they say, well its 10p per miles which is £12 per week. I say what about maintenance and they say thats not included.
Then they tell me that this comes off my gross income and so my monthly payment goes from £270 per month to £264. £6 quid a month or £1.50 a week. What a joke.
The other thing about the CMS I have found is that about half the time you get someone on the phone who seems impartial and the other half of the time I can tell in their voice the contempt they have for me as a man who is the paring parent.
I have asked her to do half the driving but she flatly refused. She only picks them up on the weekend because if she doesnt I have said if she doesnt they can stay at mine and I will take them to school on the monday. She doesnt want that as it will up the amount of days i have them and she doesnt want that as she knows I will go to the CMS with the increase in the number of nights I have them and she will get less maintenance
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