Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Good morning.
My ex and I are in the process of agreeing a consent order to move to equal 50:50 shared care. We will be alternating 7 night stints throughout the year. This is from a previous arrangement where she had slightly more time than I. I am therefore currently paying child maintenance, but believe after the change I should not be as all time and costs of the children will be our individual responsibilities during our time.
I just want to make sure I get the wording right in the consent order so as to not cause any problems. I have read stories of people trying to let CMS know that they have now moved to equal care but there being issues in them stopping child maintenance because of the exact wording, or a difference in interpretation between equal time and equal cost of care. I note the CMS calculator doesn't return £0 when you enter "half time" into the calculator. I can't understand why this is!?
Please can you good folk advise how the consent order should be worded to ensure CMS agree that we are now providing fully equal care and there is not paying parent anymore?
At various places online I've seen wording such as:
- 50:50 shared care
- equal day to day care
- shared live with order
What is the correct wording so I don't end up in a minefield with CMS please?
Would really value your responses. Many thanks
Hi,
Ideally it should be an order that states children live with both parents, and there is equal day to day care.
I recommend you join this support group, very useful:
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.