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Hello All
Although I now live alone after my ex-wife ran away with the gym instructor - We had a contact order set in place where I was 'allowed' to see my children twice a week. The reality is that I have made a diary and last year I had the children approx 160+ nights.
So we had two children between us, and my ex has the child benefit books - and its only my salary that is scrutinized. So even if my ex earns more than me, it's still only my salary they look at. as she has the benefit books, even though we have the kids about 50:50.
This is not a good system.
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Thanks
...perhaps you should talk to her and suggest that you each claim benefit for one child as you have almost 50/50 shared care.
You are right the system is flawed, if you start questioning the status quo she might reduce the overnight contact accordingly. Hopefully though she is dependent on you having the children a lot so this might give your argument some weight.
Good luck.
The additional benefit of each claiming for one child is that you both get the first child benefit, which is more than the benefit she is getting for two children. All perfectly legal.
I have a similar issue, my sons mum has him on average one evening a week more. We are both headteachers and have good salaries although she does earn more than me. She can claim CSA off me and spend it on whatever she likes?? So for the sake of her claiming the child benefit she also receives hundreds of pounds a month more off me for those 4 nights a month. All that does is reduce my disposable income that I could spend doing things with him whilst increasing hers. How is it fair when she earns more in the first place? I could completely understand if she earned less and his life was poorer with her but all this does is make me financially worse off...
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