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Hi Can anyone help me please? I have two children and my son lives with me - my daughter with my ex-wife. I entered this ok on the calculator
But I am confused on the number of nights my children are staying with me? My daughter stays one night a week -but my son obviously stays 7 nights a week so the combined number of nights is in excess of 176 (on average) so do I just enter how many nights she stays or the total number of nights per week for both my children - ?
When she had both I was paying 437/month - now its saying 386/month - which just doesn't seem right!! Since I have more of the kids than she does!!
What am I doing wrong? Or is this the case?
Thanks
Hi there
If your son lives with you, you should open a case with the CMS, or reach a private arrangement with the mother. I would have thought the easiest way would be to agree that one child each cancels out the need for either of you to pay the other.
If you have been paying via the CMS, you should contact them to tell them about the change, although they may require the parent that opened the case to report this change to them.
If you wanted to calculate how much you should be paying, the calculation would be done just on your daughter, in which case you would enter 1 child and 1 overnight stay a week. That will give you an estimate of what you should expect to pay.
The amount you pay for your daughter would differ from the amount your ex pays for your son, as it’s determined by income.
It usually works out at about 12% of gross income for 1 child, less 1/7th of the weekly calculated amount for each overnight stay.
As your son is living with you, you’re entitled to claim child benefit and any working tax credits that you may be eligible for.
Hope that helps
Hello Ray Now
Child maintenance is usually payable to the main carer of a child, which is usually the parent who receives Child Benefit. From what you have said, it sounds as though you are the main carer for you son, and your ex-wife is the main carer for your daughter.
In order to use the Online calculator for your situation, you would usually need to carry out two separate calculations. One calculation would be you as a paying parent for one child, using your income and the amount of overnight contact your daughter has with you. The other would be you as a receiving parent for one child, using your ex-wife’s income and the amount of nights your son stays over with her.
Using the details above, you would gain an estimated amount of child maintenance you may be liable to pay for your daughter, and also an estimated amount you may be entitled to receive for your son.
For a more personalised response, you may wish to contact Child Maintenance Options directly at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, 'Sorting out Separation'. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William
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