[Solved] Dads getting Maintenace from the Mother

Hi Donjen.

Thank you for your post. My name is William the Child Maintenance Options consultant.

You do not mention what type of child maintenance arrangement you have in place at the moment.

I understand that you do not want high legal costs, so if you and your children's mother have set up child maintenance together rather than involving the solicitor. This is what we call a family-based arrangement. It is simply an agreement between the two of you about who will provide what for your children. It does not have to be just about exchanging money, sharing care of your children or buying clothes could count, for example. A family-based arrangement is not legally binding but it is flexible and can be changed as your children's needs change.

If you feel that mediation may help you to renegotiate your agreement, you may wish to take a look at the following link: http://find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk/, where you can find a mediator in your area.

Alternatively, we have several guides and a child maintenance calculator available on our website that you may find useful in your negotiations. You can find these at: http://www.cmoptions.org.

If you can continue with your child maintenance arrangement, you can record the details on our family-based arrangement form. Although this is not a legally enforceable document, it puts the agreement on a more formal basis. You can complete it together with your children's mother and sign your names to show your commitment to this arrangement. You can also download this from our website.

If your child maintenance is paid via the Child Support Agency (CSA), when the CSA calculated your payments they would have taken into consideration the number of nights your children stay overnight with you. This reduces the amount of child maintenance that you pay. As your children spend an equal amount of time staying overnight with you and their mother, child maintenance, as you know, is paid to the parent in receipt of Child Benefit.

The CSA would have then worked out how much child maintenance should be paid using their normal processes. The amount that both of you contribute towards your children's everyday living costs is also taken into account.

If you have any further question about how your payments were calculated, you would need to speak to the CSA directly. This website: http://www.gov.uk/child-support-agency provides their contact details.

You mention in your post that you are aware that child support will stop for parents who share care.

It has been mentioned that the Government plans to introduce a new statutory maintenance service (known as the Child Maintenance Service) and that they may calculate maintenance differently, when parents have equal shared care.

It is proposed that under the Child Maintenance service if the paying parent can prove that they carry out an equal amount of day-to-day care as well as having equal shared care, then the Child Maintenance Service will regard neither parent to be the paying parent so their child maintenance would be set as nil – even if one parent receives Child Benefit or tax credits as the child’s parent. Where there is equal day-to-day care and there is no paying parent means that there cannot be a statutory case, the Child Maintenance Service would not be able to process the application as there is no identifiable paying parent.

Currently only parents with four or more children are eligible to open a case with the Child Maintenance Service. Other parents wishing to use a statutory service will still use the CSA.

There maybe costs involved in using the Child Maintenance Service, such as an application fee, fees for collecting and paying out child maintenance payments as well as enforcement charges for paying parents who do not pay. We do not know the exact amount of the costs yet or when they might be introduced as they still need to be approved by Parliament.

As the Government introduces the new service to everyone, the CSA will start closing their existing child maintenance cases. Parents will then have to decide whether to make a family-¬base¬d arrangement or to apply to the Child Maintenance Service. Parents can avoid charges by making their own family-based arrangement.

You also indicate in your post that you are concerned about your financial situation. The Government has set up Money Advice Service to give people impartial information on a number of financial issues, as well as help with budgeting, products and services. The service also offers guidance on separation and divorce and how this can affect your finances. Their website is: http://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk.

We also have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful, it offers help and support to separated families. The link is: http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.

If you would like to find out more about how Child Maintenance Options can help you visit our website or call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on Saturday.