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New on here, don't know if I'm posting to the right place? If not, feel free to remove.
So today my ex partner (mother) tried to cut short my time with my daughter today to spend time with her and her current partner. As I refused she is now threatening to go to her solicitor for child maintenance arrears that she thinks I owe. I pay more child maintenance than I should and also help out with clothing, school dinner costs etc.
Should I be worried about this? Where should I go from here?
Im now with someone else and we have a 6 month old son together. Although I have a decent job that pays ok, my wage only just covers our outgoings every month with a little bit left over. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hello ShaunD
As child maintenance and contact are classed as two separate issues in law, one does not necessarily effect the other. This means that contact cannot be withheld for child maintenance, and vice versa.
If your child maintenance is arranged between yourselves (what we refer to as a family-based arrangement), you would both need to discuss whether or not any arrears are owing, either directly or via a third party (such as a friend or a family-member). Something to bear in mind is that because family-based arrangements are not legally binding, the Child Maintenance Service (the Government's statutory maintenance service) would not be able to enforce or back date any missed or under payments.
If you do have a family-based arrangement in place, and you need help discussing and/or negotiating with your ex-partner, the Child Maintenance Options website features a lot of helpful tools and guides. You can access these via the following link: https://www.cmoptions.org/en/toolbox/index.asp
If you feel you are paying more child maintenance than would be expected, the Online Calculator may be of use to you. This can give you an estimation of how much child maintenance you would be expected to pay along Government guidelines. The Talking About Money and Discussion guide may also help you to highlight the other contributions you are making, such as school dinners and clothing etc. and how these could be incorporated in your child maintenance arrangement.
On the other hand, if your child maintenance is arranged via the Child Maintenance Service, you or your ex-partner would need to speak to them directly regarding any arrears - if there are any. Also, if you have a statutory arrangement, you are only legally responsible for the amount worked out by the Child Maintenance Service, and are not obliged to pay for anything extra.
As touched on earlier, because contact and child maintenance are classed as two separate issues in law, you may wish to seek legal advice should you have any specific concerns about contact/access with your daughter.
I hope this information helps, and if you would like more information and a more personalised service, please feel free to contact Child Maintenance Options directly.
You may be interested to know that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, Sorting out Separation. It aims to make it much easier when you are separated to find the support you need, when and where you need it on a range of concerns, including, money, housing, employment, legal and parenting apart. You can view the website at https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William
I would look at the CMS calculator - if you are paying more than you should, (and there will be a reduction for your current dependant child), then I would suggest that you open a case with CMS. Costs £20 to do so, and then arrange to pay by direct pay based on the amount the CMS calculate. That way, there's nothing she can do, and as above, she can't make any claim backdated before the CMS case. Her solicitor will probably simply give up once a case is opened - not a lot they can do about it.
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