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Hi All,
After a very turbulent divorce, boy do you see the real person you married in those final stages, all is finally complete, the court order through and only one final payment to make outside of the child maintenance.
two questions;
1, As part of the court order I have to pay a lump sum, note the solicitors have closed their cases so they are not really interested in this part. Appart of relying on the evidence of the money transfer from my account to hers do I need to have a statement clarifying that the transfer has been made in relation to the court order?
2, I pay monthly maintenance, if my kids are coming to stay for half of one month can I legally only pay 50% of that months maintenance?
Thanks for you advise
Any reduction on Child Maintenance due to the number of night the children are with you should calculated over a year rather than on week by week or month by month basis. To paraphrase the guidance from the Child Maintenance Service:
'shared care’ is where a child who qualifies for child maintenance stays overnight with the paying parent on average at least one night a week
The https://www.cmoptions.org/ website has some really good guidance and a online calculator.
.
Thanks for the reply. Payments are not via the CSA, via court order. therefore not attached to number of nights
Hi there
In answer to Q1. If the court hasn't directed you to sent proof of trandpsfer into the court, but for peace of mind I would get the statement in case it's needed.
If the court order doesn't give directions about reducing payments for extra time the children spend with you, then I doubt you can make a deduction, unless its with the agreement of the mother and I'd get that in writing too.
All the best
Hi There,
As already said, Keep a bank statement of the transfer, and if you are able go to the bank to transfer the money as they should also be able to give you proof that it was done.
I wouldn't think that the court order would have anything in it to cover reduction when your children stay with you, but remember that the court order for child maintenance will only last for 12 months, after that either one of you can approach CMS and get them to take over the payments. Just ensure that CMS is fully in place before stopping the court ordered amount
GTTS
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