Divorce / csa / spousal maintenance

Giraffe5021

Thanks all for your thoughts and advice.
I think the age of the kids is hugely relevant in the SM issue as (for now) it prevents ex from improving her earning capability. I think SM for a short period to see all kids at high school is justified.
My real issue - or i guess if I am being totally honest fear that keeps me awake at night (literally!!) - is that i get totally taken to the cleaners. That said I am trying to be optimistic in that the mediator (who must be impartial) cannot put forward a deal that leaves one of the parties living on bread and jam and one with a disposable income (i.e. after mortgage, utilities but before food / clothes / car expenses) of c£2k per month. Remember thats £2k NETT income - £500 a week.
Average UK gross income is £27.3k (GROSS REMEMBER) per annum. Ex will have £24k NETT after all the major bills (refer above) are paid.
I really am struggling to see where £65 a day after the major bills have been paid can possibly be going!!
This maybe a controversial comment to make (and hence may get shot down in flames but hey that wont be first time recently!!!) but I am sure there are people out there who would kill to have £65 a day!!

Giraffe5021

By the way....what does PWC stand for???

Emmzi

parent with children

surreybased

Just worth noting that CSA is proposed to change to CMEC (based on gross salary) within the next 12-18months. The impact for higher earners is an increase in CM so bear this in mind in any settlement.

Giraffe5021

surreybased - thanks for the info.
I have tried to find the relevant info on the CSA website but cant locate it other than to say :
From 2012, the Commission will introduce a new statutory maintenance scheme (the new 'gross income' scheme), based on latest available tax year information from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Using information from a single source is expected to reduce significantly the time taken to calculate child maintenance. The maintenance award will be fixed for a year unless income varies by more than 25%.
Do you know what this actually means in reality (or will mean) to me?

neverdespairgirl

Marisco wrote: »

Sorry to bang on about spousal maint, but to me it just goes against the grain, that a NRP should pay for an adult!!! Just because you lived/were married together, should not give someone the "right" to a meal ticket for years!! Support the kids, no argument, but adults should support themselves.

I don't agree with that at all. In some circumstances, spousal maintanence is entirely appropriate.

My parents, for example. (Not that they are splitting up, but if they did). My mother worked as a teacher, and turned down an offer of promotion to deputy head after they married as she was intending to start a family. She had 4 children, and didn't work for 17 years, then only part-time after that for a few years.

But my Dad couldn't ever have established himself in the way he did without her. She not only brought up his children, she arranged and ran both his home and his life. She not only serviced and taxed his cars, sorted out his income tax and VAT, but bought his clothes and ran his life like the best 5* hotel.

She would certainly deserve on-going spousal payments.

DS4215

Does the suggestion for maintenance reflect the nights that you will be having the children. For example, the CSA payments are 25% of your wages * nights they stay with you / 7. So if you have them 2 nights a week on average you would actually pay 18%. Could you propose the same with spousal maintenance too? - You could argue that £2k per month is a starting point if ex has the children every day, but you want to have guaranteed access 2 nights per week (alternate weekends and midweek stays for example) and actually pay £1500 per month (rounding up £1428 pro rata) and keep the other £500 to spend on the kids when you have them?

As someone else mentioned, make sure that you can cut the payments off at short notice in the event of a life changing event - redundancy being the main one.

findingmyownway

Putting aside the fact that I also think this 'spousal maintainance' is ridiculous, sexist and part & parcel of the benefit "i want the best life without having to work for it" culture that is eating up our country, I agree with the posters above.


As the CSA have reduced your payment by 27% in line with your income, it is ridiculous to 'top up' the SM from money which is no longer there.

If you take the £2000 figure and reduce by the same proportion, you would pay £1460 maintainance, which according to your calculations would leave:


Ex:
Income (being wages + benefits): £1450
Maintenance (CSA + SM) : £1,460

Total income: £2,910
Monthly outgoings : £1,460
Available balance to live £1,450

Me:
Income: £4,250
Maintenance: £1,460
Monthly outgoings £1,832
Available balance to me: £958


Interestingly that figure is exactly the same as you quote for her outgoings. So you would be paying ALL HER BILLS. All her wages and benefits would be to spend as she sees fit on food etc. I find the idea of that insane, but it might be a good 'tool' for you to use in mediation.