[Solved] Payment to two parents

Hi,

I'm not sure if i can help directly because we are the receiving parents (My Partner has a case with her Ex for her two kids)

We recently requested a mandatory reconsideration as a calculation was done using his 2019/20 P60 and he has since changed job and earning a lot more however failed to inform CMS. In the letter at one point it states 'We will also ask anyone else with a child maintenance case that may be affected by us looking at our decision again for any evidence they may have.' So this doesn't answer your question directly but under some circumstances they will contact the other receiving parent. Its worth noting that we have never been given any information the other receiving parent. The only information we have been told about the other receiving parent was how much maintenance the father should be paying her but this is easily calculated anyway.

This being said, the father has since appealed the new calculation on the basis 'that its not fair and he cannot afford it....' and we have received a letter asking us if we approve them displaying our address on any documentation to the father or if we want this information hidden from the father but this is information between father and one receiving parent.

In my opinion they will not share information of receiving parents with the receiving parents.

Its also worth nothing that if your Ex is going to CMS to claim missed payments from previous months, this is not something CMS will be able to help with if it was a private arrangement. CMS will do a maintenance calculation and will be valid from the date of the calculation onwards. So this may work in your favor, if you are earning less now the calculation will be based on current earnings (providing you provide current salary), the amount of time you see the kids and any other kids you pay maintenance for or look after. The calculation will then be valid until/if you lose your job or your salary increases or decreases by 25%

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you go to CMS and raise the case for your Ex you can at any time cancel the case. If she raises it only she can cancel it. If it was me I would want to be the one in control of the case.

Hope this helps

Thanks

Craig

Thank you Craig for the advice. So, in your case, is the paying parent also paying to another parent through CMS and you aware of the amount but not privy to any identifiable information?

Yes that is correct. All we see is how much she should be getting from the father but this information is displayed if we do a calculation online anyway.

We know the other receiving parent however CMS have never disclosed any information about her or even if he pays money to her, just the amount he is liable to pay. I'm not even sure she has a active CMS case, as far as we know they have a private agreement.

FlexRay

if you lost your job and still out of work, CMS will tell you to pay zero to your ex. so she will be in for a shock.

I'm pretty certain CMS would not be allowed to give information about one ex partner to the other, that would have to be covered under data protection and GDPR regulations.

I don’t think cms would mention the other parent unless it was through cms they were getting paid (direct pay or collect and pay). Cms don’t take into account any private family arrangements. I imagine that the other parent in your case is most likely open to cms also. Is the amount you receive, reduced, due to how much he is paying the other parent also?

I certainly hope so, although they share my earnings with her every year. I guess I will soon find out..