[Solved] how on earth is spouse maintenance worked out??

Hi

With regards to estate agents fees etc, you are looking at a couple of thousand difference in the split possibly - if you start quibbling too much, you could find yourselves with solicitors battling it out and you will both be much worse off because of their fees, let alone whatever the final result is. You can try to negotiate, but I would only work with the actual costs as they stand, not any that might be if you both sold the house as that isn't happening.

Under the current system, even though you and your ex have joint custody, because she is getting the child benefit, you would be liable for child maintenance to her, though reduced because of the number of days you have your children. Under the system about to come into force (CSA3), with joint residence, I believe that you won't be liable, though it's worth checking (there's a sticky topic about CSA3 at the top of the maintenance section).

The split in pension is more to do with the divorce - because you have built this up while you were married, and she took a reduced wage, I suspect that the divorce settlement will involve her being entitled to some of your pension, depending on how much pension she has built up in her own name.

Thanks for your comments actd.

Yes the last thing we want to do is for solicitors and even courts to be heavily involved. I think I will leave it as is. At least we are taking off the early repayment fee of the mortgage.

I am sure we will go down the family agreement route. Is it best to get a signed document through a family solicitor? How long do we fix it for until children are 16 or should we just agree to review it as and when any circumstances change (i.e if she goes back to full time employment). What would the CSA do?
I have calculated my payments using the child maintenace calculator as £42 per week which I will happily round up to £200 per month
-> I don't agree with this as we have 50/50 care, the children will be registered at her address and she will get the full child benefit I assume? But I guess she did reduce her hours

In regards to the pension, we have only discussed a separation agreement - I guess we could therefore park that for a couple of years. Legally would I only have to consider pension payouts for our married years not the 6 years we were together prior?

Thanks Again.
Andy

It's tricky with regards to the pension before you were married - it might be worth having a word with the citizens advice bureau, I don't think there's a fixed formula - I would say it depends on how much your ex was less able to build up her own pension while you were together.

I'll ask the CMO to pop on and give some advice on the family based arrangement.

Hi Andywholt

Thank you for your post. I am William, the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I will provide some information about child maintenance that may help answer your query.

Many parents choose to sort out child maintenance between themselves as it is often the quickest and most amicable way of agreeing child maintenance. We call this a family-based arrangement and there are no strict rules to stick to. Therefore, both of you and your wife can decide the terms of your own arrangement, such as if child maintenance will be payable with both of you having joint custody of your children.

If both of you decide that you will make a contribution, a family-based arrangement does not need to be all about money although many parents do include regular financial contributions. Your arrangement can include other kinds of support, such as you directly paying for things that your children may need. Family-based arrangements are not legally-binding, however, many parents prefer them because of their flexibility and ease at which they can be reviewed (such as if you or your wife’s circumstances change).

We have a range of tools and guides on our website ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/toolbox/index.asp) that may help you set up a family-based arrangement with your wife. These include our discussion guide which can be used to plan your conversation around child maintenance and our family-based arrangement form, which is not a legally-binding document but if used to write down what both of you have agreed, it can help make your arrangement feel more formal.

To give you an indication of how much child maintenance that may be calculated if you were to use the Child Maintenance Service, we have an online calculator on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator/. Some parents use the figure provided as a starting point to negotiate a family-based arrangement.

If you feel that a family-based arrangement will not work, you can make an application to the Child Maintenance Service. Under the statutory rules, child maintenance is payable to the parent that is in receipt of the Child Benefit payments. Regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education (A-level or equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid.

With regards to equal shared care, under the statutory rules, if the paying parent can prove that they carry out an equal amount of day-to-day care as well as having equal shared care then the Child Maintenance Service regards neither parent to be the paying parent so their child maintenance would be set as nil, even if one parent receives the Child Benefit for a child.

The Child Maintenance Service offer two schemes: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay. Direct Pay is where the Child Maintenance Service will provide both you and your wife with a child maintenance calculation and then allow both of you to decide the payment method. After this, the Child Maintenance Service will make no further contact unless they are informed that payments have stopped or if there is a change in either of your circumstances.

Alternatively, under the Collect and Pay scheme, the Child Maintenance Service will calculate and collect payments from you and then forward them on to you. If you decide to use this scheme, your responsibility to pay will be around the point when you are contacted by the Child Maintenance Service.

The Government plans to introduce costs for using the services of the Child Maintenance Service at some point in the future. There will be three types of costs;

An application fee
Fees for collecting and paying out child maintenance payments
Enforcement charges for paying parents who do not pay.

We do not know the exact amount of these costs yet or when they might be introduced as they still need to be approved by Parliament but the Child Maintenance Service will write to everyone with a case to confirm the exact amounts at least a month before they come in. You can avoid these costs by making your own family-based arrangement with your wife. If you try it and it does not work out, you can still apply to the Child Maintenance Service at any stage.

If you decide to make an application to the Child Maintenance Service, you will need to contact us first either by telephone or email, for your unique reference number. This number is personal to you. It is unique and shows that you have spoken to Child Maintenance Options before applying for a statutory child maintenance arrangement.

You can find more information about using the Child Maintenance Service by visiting the Government website Gov.uk at http://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance. You can also find their contact details on this site if you wish to call them directly.

If you feel that none of the above options will work for you, you could consider a Consent Order, or a Minute of Agreement if you live in Scotland. Both of these options are official rulings made by a court. To arrange a Consent Order or a Minute of Agreement, both you and your wife will need to agree how much child maintenance will be paid and how often before going to court. This type of agreement is usually set up when both parents are going to court for other reasons, such as arranging a divorce or dividing assets. Arranging a Consent Order can be costly as fees for solicitors, mediators and court costs may apply.

For more information on family-based arrangements, please visit our website at http://www.cmoptions.org. Alternatively, you can call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on Saturday. We have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.

Regards

William