[Solved] Help needed

It's worth taking a look at the new rules here: http://www.dad.info/forum/legal-eagle/38593-the-children-and-families-act-2014#43828

There's no guarantee what will happen in a court, but if you draw up proposals which can be timetabled, I would have thought that what you are asking for is possible, if it is practical. You would need to go through mediation first as this is now compulsory, and it may be that you can find common ground for an agreement.

I believe that, if childcare is truly split 50/50, then neither parent is liable for maintenance, but you'd need to sort out the child arrangement first, I would think - don't go to court arguing about this though, the court will not be impressed if they think the reason for the arrangement is anything at all to do with the financial arrangement.

Hi Verymadchef

Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I will provide some information that may help answer your query about child maintenance.

If you would like to speak to someone about you contact rights, you may wish to get in touch with the Citizens Advice Bureau as they can provide information on legal topics ( http://www.adviceguide.org.uk). You may also wish to seek legal advice regarding your current circumstances.

Under the statutory rules, child maintenance is worked out using the paying parent's gross income, which is income before Income Tax and National Insurance are taken off, but after occupational or personal pension scheme contributions are taken away. In most cases this gross income figure comes from information given to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) by the paying parent, their employer or a third-party such as an accountant. However, the parent with the main care’s (the receiving parent) income is not taken into account when working out child maintenance.

One of the factors that is taken into account is shared care and this is dependent on the paying parent’s child maintenance rate. Shared care applies if the paying parent provides overnight care for at least 52 nights per year before a liability will be reduced. This is based on the agreement with the receiving parent and evidence provided. Shared care is usually determined over a twelve month basis, but shorter periods can be considered in appropriate cases.

However, 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 regards neither parent to be the paying parent so their child maintenance would be set as nil, even if one parent receives Child Benefit as the child’s parent. You can find more information on how the Child Maintenance Service works out child maintenance on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance.

In terms of setting up a child maintenance arrangement with your wife, one option that you may wish to consider is to come to an agreement between yourselves in the form of a family-based arrangement. With this type of agreement, there are no strict rules to stick to. Therefore, both you and your wife have the freedom to decide the terms of your own arrangement, such as how much child maintenance will be paid.

A family-based arrangement can include money and other kinds of support, such as you directly paying for things that your son may need. Although family-based arrangements are not legally-binding, many parents prefer them because of their flexibility and how easy the arrangement can be reviewed, such as if you or your wife’s circumstances change. They are also free to set up and maintain. You can find more information on family-based arrangements on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/family/index.asp.

To help you set up a family-based arrangement with your wife, we have a range of tools and guides on our website that you may find useful ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/toolbox/index.asp). These tools include our discussion guide which you can use to help prioritise the issues that you wish to resolve with your wife and help you plan conversations around child maintenance. We also have a family-based arrangement form that is not a legally-binding document but if used to write down what both of you have agreed, it can help to formalise your arrangement.

To give you an indication of how much child maintenance that may be calculated if you were to use the Child Maintenance Service, we have an online calculator on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator/. You and your wife can use this tool to help you work out a figure for your family-based arrangement.

If you feel that a family-based arrangement will not work, you can make an application to the Child Maintenance Service as the paying parent. They use two schemes: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay. Both schemes are legally-binding and enforceable if payments are not made.

Direct Pay is where the Child Maintenance Service will provide both you and your wife with a child maintenance calculation and then allow both of you to decide the payment method. After this, the Child Maintenance Service will make no further contact unless they are informed that payments have stopped or if there is a change in either of your circumstances.

Alternatively, under the Collect and Pay scheme, the Child Maintenance Service will calculate and collect payments from you and then forward them on to your ex-partner. If you decide to use the Child Maintenance Service, your responsibility to pay will be around the point when you are contacted by the Child Maintenance Service.

You may be interested to know that the Government plans to introduce charges for using the Child Maintenance Service at some point in 2014. There will be three types of charges:

• Application fees
• Fees for collecting and paying out child maintenance
• Enforcement charges for paying parents who do not pay

The best way to avoid charges is to set up a family-based arrangement and not use the Child Maintenance Service at all. However, if you and the other parent cannot agree an arrangement between yourselves, there will be no collection fees for parents who pay and receive child maintenance using Direct Pay, only application fees.

For parents using the Collect and Pay scheme the Government plans to charge collection fees to both the paying and receiving parent, this is for collecting and passing on child maintenance payments.

Under the Government’s plans the paying parent would have to pay 20% in addition to the weekly maintenance payment and the receiving parent would have 4% taken away from the weekly maintenance payment.

If you decide to make an application to the Child Maintenance Service, you will need to contact us first either by telephone or email, for your unique reference number. This number is personal to you. It is unique and shows that you have spoken to Child Maintenance Options before applying for a statutory child maintenance arrangement. You can find more information about using the Child Maintenance Service by visiting the Government website Gov.uk at http://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance.

If you feel that none of the above options will work for you, you could consider a Consent Order, or a Minute of Agreement if you live in Scotland. Both of these options are official rulings made by a court. To arrange a Consent Order or a Minute of Agreement, both you and your wife will need to agree how much child maintenance will be paid and how often before going to court. This type of agreement is usually set up when both parents are going to court for other reasons, such as arranging a divorce or dividing assets. Arranging a Consent Order can be costly as fees for solicitors, mediators and court costs may apply.

For more information on the ways to set up child maintenance, please visit our website at http://www.cmoptions.org. Alternatively, you can call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on a Saturday. We have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.

Regards

William