Advice on child maintenance payment to ex-wife

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Comments

  • Kayalana99 wrote: »
    Something isn't adding up here.

    If you are legally supposed to pay 66 a week, that works out about £250 (lets round up)

    Child payments is 20% of your wage, so at £250 a month that would mean you earn £1,250 a month.

    So how can you afford to pay her basically £1,000 a month (including childcare) and still live?

    ETA:

    You've worked this out wrong so if you earn £3,000 a month (based on your orignal post) you should be paying £600 a month.

    Not necessarily. We don't know the circumstances. OP might be living with someone else and have children in the household which would reduce payments. They are also having 50/50 childcare.


    £3k a month is around £692 a week. On Child Maintenance Service website based on the fact that OP earns 692 a week, has no other children and 50/50 child care it works out at £35pw (If he was having child 1 night a week it would be £83.00 a week)
  • Chris_P_2
    Chris_P_2 Posts: 194 Forumite
    FBaby wrote: »
    If her wage is much lower could she be entitled to working tax credits that would pay a large element of childcare? When working or her income do you include any benefits she might be entitled to? Will you both be getting CB for one child?

    She receives all CHB. She is also applying for CTC (I dont think she qualifies for WTC).

    Kayalana99: I believe the 20% is if no custody is included? I will be having them 50% of the time and paying for at least 50% of their costs (more actually as all school and nursery costs are being met by me).

    The maintenance calculator took account of my 50% care, and my gross weekly pay of £1067
  • Mimi_Arc_en_ciel
    Mimi_Arc_en_ciel Posts: 4,831 Forumite
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    edited 30 August 2016 at 3:46PM
    Chris_P wrote: »
    She receives all CHB. She is also applying for CTC (I dont think she qualifies for WTC).

    Kayalana99: I believe the 20% is if no custody is included? I will be having them 50% of the time and paying for at least 50% of their costs (more actually as all school and nursery costs are being met by me).

    The maintenance calculator took account of my 50% care, and my gross weekly pay of £1067


    I personally don't think you should be liable for the nursery care on the days you don't specifically have your child but that's just 1 persons opinion.

    I would also put in place now what happens during vacations / school holidays. Whose having the child when and whose responsible for what. For example, who gets the child at Christmas? Whilst it might be acceptable now to "share the day" what happens when one of you moves on?
  • Chris_P wrote: »
    The family home is a big detached 4/5 house. She can only just afford to keep the mortgage based on me paying £650pm.

    I think this is the point that needs addressing - the amount that is being asked for is not based on the OP's earnings, it is based on the cost of running the family home.

    You can do all of the calculations you want, but what you need to be asking yourself is whether you want your ex to sell the house and downsize or if you want to help them stay there?
    Proud to be debt-free 30/6/2020

  • FBaby
    FBaby Posts: 18,367 Forumite
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    Is she not entitled to WTC because she earns too much or because she doesn't work 16 hours?
  • JReacher1
    JReacher1 Posts: 4,652 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post I've been Money Tipped!
    If you start renegotiating the maintenance is it possible that you ex may start to renegotiate the access arrangements?

    It seems like you've agreed £650 with her and are currently going through an amicable divorce. Changing the terms now will almost certainly lead to a frosty relationship with your ex wife.
  • mark5
    mark5 Posts: 1,363 Forumite
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    Kayalana99 wrote: »
    Something isn't adding up here.

    If you are legally supposed to pay 66 a week, that works out about £250 (lets round up)

    Child payments is 20% of your wage, so at £250 a month that would mean you earn £1,250 a month.

    So how can you afford to pay her basically £1,000 a month (including childcare) and still live?

    ETA:

    You've worked this out wrong so if you earn £3,000 a month (based on your orignal post) you should be paying £600 a month.


    The 20% maintenance figure for. 2 children often gets banded about but is a guide, if you look in to it further, the more the maintenance paying parent has the children, the less maintenance they should pay, there is a csa calculator which works it out. Basically 20% is only paid for 2 children if one parent has the children the majority of the time.
    The op has his children nearly 50% of the time so the maintenance owed is much lower.
  • mark5
    mark5 Posts: 1,363 Forumite
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    JReacher1 wrote: »
    If you start renegotiating the maintenance is it possible that you ex may start to renegotiate the access arrangements?

    It seems like you've agreed £650 with her and are currently going through an amicable divorce. Changing the terms now will almost certainly lead to a frosty relationship with your ex wife.

    So he should just pay twice as much as is due not to upset the ex?
  • JReacher1
    JReacher1 Posts: 4,652 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post I've been Money Tipped!
    mark5 wrote: »
    So he should just pay twice as much as is due not to upset the ex?

    No, but there seems a time to bring this up and waiting until quite near the end of the negotiations to suddenly announce to your ex that you're not giving them the money they need to be able to afford to stay in the house they live in is quite unpleasant.
  • jamiehelsinki
    jamiehelsinki Posts: 222 Forumite
    edited 8 February 2017 at 3:19AM
    OP I would address the issue, when I split with my wife I said I would pay 20% as it's what one of her friends was getting for her 2 children it wasn't a lifetime agreement it was a temporary arrangement.


    Our old house looks like it might be moving towards a quick exchange of contracts so im waiting until it's sorted before I adjust my maintenance payments.

    If you were anything like me you would have agreed to anything in the weeks that followed our split.
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