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Hi dads I'm seeking some advice before I contact the cms again, re my maintenance agreement with my ex we had an agreement that I would pay £50 PW and I have done so since my daughter was born which was nearly 12 years ago,even though we only split up less than 2 years ago and in all that time I never missed a single payment.
Until this year when I took my daughter on a holiday of her lifetime to Spain for 2 wks ( she had never even been on a plane before long story but you get the idea) anyway while I was away my ex also went on holiday well I thought if she can afford to go away then I don't have to pay her for that week.
Bad mistake shes now contacted the cms and they say I've got to pay more as they now calculate the CSA / cms on my gross income. Which equates to over £70 PW although they want to group it into a monthly sum of just over £300 ouch.
I don't want this to sound like a sob story Lol, but i also take care of my daughter every weekend I pick her up on Saturday morning at 8 and drop her off at 6 Sunday night. This is after working away all week out of town and paying my mortgage myself ect.
You see last year we was doing OK work was plentiful so I had a decent year but this year I'm down to 4 day weeks so long story short I'm down on money, although cms say they will only reduce my payments if my wage falls below 25% which is never really likely to happen.
Enough of the background info on with why I'm here.
So my question is do they take into consideration travel expenses as my daughter lives 30+ miles away which I have to make 4 journeys to fetch her and take her back also every other weekend I stay at my girlfriends who lives nearly 60 miles away from my ex can I claim all these expenses and deduct them from my payment.
One last thing pensions I was asked if I had one by the cms I do have one although it is frozen would I be best to start paying into that again to reduce how much I payout in maintenance I know this is cheeky but it's even more cheeky to calculate cms on the gross income basis which I'm sure you would all agree? after all we are the ones paying for the financial support of our children and not asking the state to look after them or doing a runner.
The fact of the matter is with this new calculation I would not be able to afford treats for my daughter while she is with me like cinema,zoos,kitty cafe ,shopping etc.
I've already told her as shes old enough to know at 12 going on 21 that If she wants treats in the future then she will have to get the money from her mum first as I'm not going to pay for them,as I'll be paying her mother more than enough for her needs. So to finish any info on any of this would be very welcome thanks in advance dads it's over to you.
Even at 12 I don't think it's fair to discuss issues between the two of you with her, no matter how grown up she seems.
You can discuss a variation application with CMS and see what they say. If you're eligible, the amount is usually pretty negligible to be fair.
I'm not certain on the pension front, hopefully one of our members will know more about that.
Hi Yoda thanks for your reply and I'll take your advice on board about not discussing the finer details with my daughter although I do know that my ex poisons her mind about me and my new girlfriend. So my next question is what is a variation application? I have been told that the new payment will be taken at the beginning of next month so I want to do my home work first so I have all the info at my disposal, that's why I'm here also do child trust fund payments count as I'd rather pay into that so my daughter has a lump sum when she needs it. I'm already paying 20 pw into that so would that be taken into account when calculating cms payments in your opinion. Thanks for all your support and hiving us dads a voice in this crazy world.
If your pay has reduced by a significant proportion of that 25%, then personally I don't see a problem with paying enough into pension to tip it over the 25% - my personal view is that the 25% is to make life easier for the CMS on the basis that not many people will actually achieve, and not to be fair to the parents. This is only a temporary change anyway, as the annual review should then give a fairer result.
CMO helpline can give you information on whether you can apply for variation on the basis of travel costs.
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