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Hi,
In the process of a divorce and the decree nisi is due to be processed in court within a few days.
As part of the separation I have been paying child maintenance per child and also sharing 50% custody. Paying extra for child school activities.
How do I approach the not paying of the maintenance as this is not something I can afford or continue.
It had been a year now since we sold the family home and shared the profits equally, but I have been using my share to pay the monthly payments. The money is now coming to an end. I also paid the fee for the divorce to be processed without asking for a share of it to be paid.
I know if I bring up this subject that it will cause tension and arguments.
Any advise would be appreciated.
I guess there’s no financial order in place ? If so you’re not obliged to pay anything apart from if you’re on the mortgage or utility bills etc .
If that’s the case you will need to try to come to an agreement with the ex until something is in force ..
hi,
if your not tied down by some financial arrangement as part of the divorce anymore, you can contact the child maintenance service and pay £20 to register with them.
first you can try make brief contact with the ex, about your difficulty with child maintenance etc and see if you can some to some reasonable amount. if shes not interested. phone up CMS and sign up. i signed myself up after some muppets refused to hand over her bank details, for me to make payments, and they were disputing what amount i was to pay, and stressing me out.
use this gov calculator, to find out what you are expected to pay:
Hi thanks for your reply’s.
No financial order in place.
It’s always just been a mutual understanding.
I have briefly mentioned how I’m struggling before and when I said I might need to lower the payments was told “you will make us struggle as well then” also when I advised as it’s 50/50 shared care once she replied saying well you will have her less then.
I have just noticed that none of the trousers I have fit my youngest anymore (she’s been wearing dresses all summer and grown) how am I supposed to afford the payments to her and also provide the kids requirements when they are in my care?
Rant over 🙂
Have you or your ex looked into any benefits you can claim ?
My ex started to plead all that and just spent the money on herself whilst saying she needed to buy the kids a b c. Of course you have to play the game a little but don’t end up subsidising your exes relationship choices . She’s using the kids to leverage money . Go to court 1st for any child arrangements to stop all that . Then the money becomes a secondary argument . Fact is as much as she’s not doing (wrongly ) obliged to let you see your own kids , not are you liable to pay her anything over and above the cms amount .
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