[Solved] Shared custody 50/50

In my experience, CB is the key. Win on that and the rest follows.
Start to call your address the ' main address', register your address with doctors etc...keep a log of all the stuff that will be asked about.
Bear in mind that when you claim the CB, the first thing that they will do is ask the same questions of mum. If the answers disagree then they will favour the status quo. So, have lots of information so that you are much more credible....
Note that there is no appeal against their decisions, but you can reapply with new information, or after things have changed.
If there are two or more kids then they will likely award each parent CB for one child.

Hi all and looking for a bit of advice which I think relates to this thread.

I have been separated from my wife for 10 years and have two children, boy 14 and girl 16. I have paid maintenance from day one; I have the kids every other weekend and one day in the week and paid for pretty much everything else too as in clothes, phones, computers and anything else.

My wife who lives in a substantial house, new car and with her partner mainly caters for the roof over their heads and food when they are there.

Her and her partner are only prepered to work a certain amount of hours per week or whe will loose her benifits and she also gets child maintenace for another child she has with somebody else.

I have a very good job so I am lucky, the complication comes when my daughter wants to come and live with me full time so that would be 1 child with me and one with her at the moment.

Am I still liable for maintenance, that’s my question?

Any advice would be much appreciated

Regards

David

Hi there

Under these circumstances, one child each doesn't rule out CM. Each parent would make a separate claim for the child that lives with them and the amount each parent pays is dependent on the non resident parents income. If they only work minimum hours and you have a well paid job, you would probably end up paying more. You are of course entitled to Child Benefit and any tax benefits that apply.

If you have paid maintenance through the CSA, all changes must be reported, then they should recalculate the amount you pay for just one child. It would be up to you to open a new claim for the child living with you.

If you have an informal arrangement between the two of you then you are in a position to renegotiate terms and you could then hope to agree that having a child each cancels out any maintenance payments.

Best of luck

My daughter lives with me - following her mother throwing her out at 13, my other two live with her (for now - although my son is not keen). I pay maintenance for the two that live with her on average 4.5 days per week plus 50% of clubs / School activities, she pays nothing to me for her daughter - although she does have her 3 days every 2 weeks. She has always claimed CB (and also Working Tax Credits based on 3 kids).

There is no financial reason for me claiming CB as I earn considerably over the threshold and therefore would have to pay it back - but the rules seem out of touch when CB claims are used to determine residency - my daughter is certainly not resident with her mother. I am not even sure if she should legitimately be claiming CB or WTC based on her daughter that is not resident. Possibly someone could comment on my situation.

This is an issue now as the impending divorce (after 6 years apart) is forcing me to face some hard truths about custody, payments and potentially my wife's 'right' to the family house. I would much rather go to a situation of shared custody with at least a 50/50 arrangement - overall as an average across all 3 they are currently with me 48% of the time. This is less of a financial issue and more about my role as a parent- a role I feel I perform considerably better than their mother,

Incidentally, generally I feel the rules on maintenance for 50/50 arrangements would be better addresses by assessing maintenance costs for both parents at 50% so that there is a net payment from the higher earner to the lower earner.

This 50/50 child maintenance is a load of tosh.
I will pays my fees until the day I die, but.....
If I have my lad for 50% of the time why do I have to pay her a penny?
Why isn't the arguement the other way around? Why can't I claim against her? How's about she give me some money?
When he is in her house, SHE will pay for food, clothing and household bills. When my lad is with me "I" will pay the same. Somebody explain to me please in the interest of fairness WHY I have to pay maintenance while having my boy HALF they time.
I have spoke with an advisor from the child maintenance dept and she herself could not understand exactly why th

There have been a few posts about this recently & one dad said the CMS had told him it was because the mother was in receipt of the Child Benefit.

I'm sorry I can't be of much help. The families I know with 50/50 don't pay any maintenance to each other.

Hopefully someone will be along with further info.

Hello Farmer

When the Child Maintenance Service calculate payments, the overnight stays that the children have with the paying parent is taken into account. 1/7 is reduced from the total amount for every night the paying parent has on average.

When there is 50/50 shared care, which means daytime care as well as overnight, the maintenance is usually zero.

You can view detailed information about how they calculate maintenance here, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/325219/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf

If you require any information about the alternative ways to set up a maintenance arrangement, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly, 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