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This could be a drag so bare with me. I need some advice please.
My second wife and I split up 3 years ago and I went back to my first wife, luckily she is good at forgiveness!
My ex and I have a child together that I see when I can. I can't guarantee the 52 nights a year because I live in Northern Ireland and struggle to afford flights to collect the child.
Initially, when I was earning a reasonable wage, I paid a lot more maintenance than required, £500 a month. I couldn't keep that up so reduced it to £300 with her agreement. This was the right amount as per my wages and guidelines. My wages are different again and it is again reduced to the guideline amount. I have always been on time with payments with one exception when I was a victim of fraud and had no money. I am currently £100 short of her payment and have been open and honest with her about this.
She is no trying to claim that she has been messed about and will be using the CMS (Csa). I have no issue with this at all because she is actually doing me a favour.
One of my questions is this- should I manage to have my child for more than 52 nights a year would I be able to claim back the percentage from her? I am struggling for a straight answer from anyone.
I have also been told that my travel costs won't be taken into consideration because it was my choice to move away. This is despite my ex being in the forces, earning a vast amount more than me and moving every couple of years.
There are other issues but I think that's enough for now.
Thanks in advance.
Hi
The 52 nights per year will get you a reduction, but it must be 52 or over, so I would keep records. If your ex disputes this, the default position the CSA took was to believe one night a week, so you could be lucky. The CMS (who the case will be with) presumably adopt the same criteria, but you'd need to check with them.
The variation for travel is irrespective of who moves away - it's a reduction to assist you in keeping contact with your children, but the reduction is pretty minimal I'm afraid.
Hi There,
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From reading your post, as I understand it, you would be paying a set amount but if you were able to manage 52 nights or more in a 12 month period, you'd want to claim the reduction back from your ex......
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Not sure if I've got that right though, but if so then the answer is no, you couldn't, CSA/CMS take the situation as it is at the point of application and the payments are based on that, if things change and you had your child for more over nights then the change in payment would be for future payments and you couldn't reclaim anything.
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Hope I've understood your question.
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GTTS
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