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Hi,
I've had a little search but couldn't find any topic that similar to mine.
I have joint custody of my children where it's literally a 50 50 split, although there isn't any actual or court agreement in place, we both worked on a separation agreement and then she refused to sign it. Although the kids do stay with her 1 extra night in the week I am responsible for them for as many hours (wed 9am -sat 9pm). I have been paying for their up bringing with buying clothes and bits for school (new shoes, wellies, uniforms etc) . Saying this she has now demanded child maintenance from me despite saying during our separation she wouldn't as she said it isn't fair for me to pay when I have them half the time, I even have a message from her stating she doesn't want child maintenance, groan :/. What chance would I have against fighting this? She obviously receives all the other benefits, working tax, child tax and child benefits. Any advice would be great.
I think she even lied when she did the form as when I called and told them how the child care works the amount they said i should pay halved.
Hi diantalvic,
This is not an unusual situation, almost always these things come down to money.
If your ex-wife has the children for one extra night per week and is the person claiming CB she will be determined to be the receiving parent by the CSA and you will be the paying parent. This is nothing to do with being fair or reasonable, it is to keep the state's welfare bill down.
Depending on how many children you have you will end up paying from about 8% (upwards) from your taxed income if your ex-wife refers the case to CSA (may be CMS now, the rules are more or less the same, I'm sure someone will advise on the exact details).
It will not make any difference to the CSA if you have text messages saying your ex-wife dos not want CM. Its aim is to keep the welfare budget down by making sure one parent (invariably the father) subsidises the other. If there is no court order CSA will tend to believe the person making the claim, as long as that is the mother 🙂
Not very fair is it? Lots of us agree.
Best wishes,
O
yep, I have to agree with everything Othen has said. It's not fair, but she's playing the system.
Hello diantalvic
I would like to provide you with some information to help with your enquiry.
In order to ensure the information is accurate, could you please let me know if you already have a case in place with either the Child Maintenance Service or the Child Support Agency (CSA).
If you do, you can contact the relevant organisation directly.
Regards
William
Hi,
Thanks for responding. I had a letter from child maintenance saying a request has been made against me and need to contact them which I did, I told them I will seek legal advice and call them back. The letter stated how much the costs would be but this changed drastically when I told them how the living arrangements are with my children.
I have 2 children who are 8 and 5. I've been paying for their up bringing with clothes and school uniforms, shoes etc. This is ofc on top of everything you get while being in a home, all the bills etc which I know would be irrelevant.
I called up our legal team from the company I work for and said I should contest it and would stand a very good chance due to all the proof I have and the fact she gets all the other benefits, child benefit payments and tax credits
Good fortune diantalvic.
The fact that your ex-wife claims CB will count against you, rather than for you in this instance. CSA will decide that she will be the receiving parent, and that you will be paying parent on the basis of her receiving CB. This sounds counter intuitive, but it is the way it is.
It sounds like your ex-wife has claimed that the children were living with her all the time when she called CSA, in that case you would have ended up paying something over 20% of your net income to her. As it is with the children staying with you just under half the time (measured in overnight stays) means that your CM bill will be something like 12% of your net income (there is a calculator somewhere on these pages). I know it isn't fair or reasonable, we all agree with you.
I would beware that once your ex-wife realises she could get over 20% of your net income if the children stayed with her all the time, she will try to make that the case. I think you said you didn't have a Shared Residency Order, so perhaps expect the re-opening of an old wound and prepare accordingly.
Good fortune,
O
Hello diantalvic
Thank you for your reply. You can find more information about the Child Maintenance Service's appeals procedure on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance/complaints-and-appeals. You will also need to contact the Child Maintenance Service directly if you have any concerns related to your case.
If you wish to discuss the ways that parents can put child maintenance in place in further detail, you can get in contact with Child Maintenance Options directly. Their contact details can be found on their website at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The DWP 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
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