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Can I get some advice on a Child Support query please? Last year my son’s mother gave me several week’s notice of her intention to relocate from London to the other side of the country. This came up while we were in the middle of mediation relating to Child Arrangements, so as you can imagine it was hard to view this sudden epiphany as anything but malicious. The mediator signed off on the C100 on the spot, and it was off to court. The relocation went ahead uncontested in the end, as my main focus was on increasing the pitiful amount of time my son was allowed to spend with me. Thankfully, the Judge ruled in my son’s favour and trebled the amount of time he spends with me. I now split my time between staying in the Yorkshire where my son now lives, and binge-working in London -where my friends, family and heart are- during the gaps between seeing him. It's exhausting, and I often feel run-down, but spending more time with my kid more than makes up for it - no question
Because I’m spending half of every month up in Yorkshire with my son and I’m earning much less as a result, I’m wanting to reduce the amount of Child Support I pay. I know this is calculated by co-relating earnings with the number of nights your child stays with you. My son now spends 5 nights each fortnight with me, and running this through the CS calculator, I’m considerably overpaying. The worry I have about reducing the CS is I live with my partner, who earns a reasonable salary. Does household income (in this case, mine and the income of a partner with an emotional, but not biological connection to my son) feature in how CS is calculated? I wouldn’t want to reduce what I pay only for my partner to effectively become liable for an even greater monthly rate.
Advice appreciated.
Hi and welcome.
Don't worry, the CMS/CSA don't take any account at all of your partner's earnings, it's purely based on yours, plus, as you already know, the number of nights your son spends with you (multiples of 52 nights per year, in fact) and there may be an allowance for travel costs. The only exception to this is if your partner receives child tax credits - then I think half of that is included in your income.
I would recommend that you open a case with the CMS if you haven't already done so (costs £20) and then your payments are on an official footing - go for the direct pay (default if you aren't in arrears) as this avoids any further charges.
Thanks very much for this. My partner doesn't get tax child tax credits, so that's a relief. Thanks again
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