[Solved] Paying child maintenance to 2 different mothers

Hello Bob18

Maintenance is calculated based on the paying parent’s gross, taxable income. There are then other factors taken into account such as how many nights per week the child stays with the paying parent.

There is an Online calculator on the Child Maintenance Options website, http://www.cmoptions.org, which will give you an estimate of the amount that the Child Maintenance Service would ask you to pay. The total amount would then be split 50/50 between the two mothers as they do recognise family-based arrangements.

If an application was made with the Child Maintenance Service, they would contact you initially.

You can read detailed information about how the Child Maintenance Service work here, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/325219/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf

If you would like any further information and to receive a more personalised service, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly.

Regards

William

You could check with the calculator online to see what you should pay, and I believe other factors will be taken into consideration.
Things like your gross income, before national insurance and tax but after pension contributions, how many nights you have them stay,how many children you are paying for wether they are with two different parents is irrelevant in the amount you pay, it would just be split in half between the two parents.
Also if you have children living with you in another relationship

Thankyou for response everybody!

It’s quite simple then!
Split the money I should pay based on 2 children.

Why she would want to go down this route really amuses me. She won’t get much extra per week.
We have been very amicable for 5 years now. Why try to disturb that??

So can she find out how much she should be entitled too without applying??

Thanks in advance

She can find out how much she is entitled. If you are happy to give her your income details and circumstances, she can run the simulation herself at https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-child-maintenance/y . She can also call CMS and they can run the same exact simulation for her before applying.

However, what often happens in these cases is that the other person thinks you are cheating them and giving them the wrong information to try and mislead them, so that may not be of much help.

Hello Bob18

On the Child Maintenance Options website, www.cmoptions.org, there is an online calculator that can be used by anyone to find out how much maintenance they can expect to receive, or pay.

The amount isn't set in stone, but can be used to negotiate a private arrangement if you were looking to do so.

In regards to an accurate calculation performed by the Child Maintenance Service - these cannot be obtained without first applying for a maintenance arrangement to be set up through them.

If you would like any further information and to receive a more personalised service, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly via their website.

Regards

William

Hi,
I use the CM online calculator (in fact I put it into a spreadsheet to make it easier for myself) to work out what I owe each month - this is rounded up slightly to the nearest £5 or so. While this means I slightly over pay, it does make the sums easier and has in the past meant that I have not had to change payments because pay rises..
I also provide my ex a copy of my P60 each year so that she verify to her satisfaction that I am paying the right amount (I have no idea if she does this) but it means that there is complete transparency and no arguments about Child Maintenance payments.

My partner's ex is not so transparent and has recently been made redundant - my partner doesn't know if the CM payments will continue, if she will see any of the money she is owed from her ex's redundancy payment (any amount which is taxed, ie above £30k, should included in CM calculations). She refuses to ask him about it incase he kicks off as he can be very nasty verbally.

Your partner would do well to consider opening a case with CMS, and to inform them about the redundancy payment, and they can sort it out, including any payment from benefits.

What if one parent has 2 children and the other 1. Is it still 50 / 50

For three children the calculation would be 19% of your gross income to reach the amount of child maintenance you should pay. Once you have that figure, two thirds would go to the parent with 2 children and the other third to the other parent with 1 child... that’s how I understand it works.

Hello BlueBear

As Mojo mentioned in his post, for three children child maintenance would be worked out as 19% of your gross weekly income. As a basic example, the calculated amount would then be shared out between all three children, meaning the parent with 2 children would receive 2 thirds, and the parent with 1 child would receive the remaining third.

The Child Maintenance Options website, www.cmoptions.org, has an online calculator which can give you an estimation of how much child maintenance would be expected under Government guidelines. You may find this to be insightful if you are curious to know how to work out child maintenance.

In addition to this, there is also the How We Work Out Child Maintenance guide which we provided a link to in an earlier post. You can access it by clicking here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/672432/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf.

Page 18 of the above guide will go into more detail about how this type of scenario is handled by the Child Maintenance Service, which is the Government's statutory maintenance service. You may also 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 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/.

I hope that this helps, and if you would like any further information (and to receive a more personalised service), you are welcome to contact Child Maintenance Options directly.

Kind Regards

William