Child maintenance/payments to wife

summerof0763

honeztly some on here are like animals against the op, what happened to be nice to all mon, savers? your like an animal pack.

op is trying to help her boyfriend get out of debt!! they are trying to sort out his money, they are not saying he wants to stop paying, just find out if he should be paying ad much, given the circumstances.
I personally think he is paying too much, given he has daughter 50/50pays for clothes food etc, I think you should check the calculator and tell the mum that's how much she is getting.

duchy

Actually NONE of us know if £400 is too much or too little as we have no idea of this "IT programmer who can work from home"'s income. A job title like that covers a very wide range of pay points-he might be poorly paid or he may be very well paid. My child support until my son was 19 was calculated using CSA figures and was over £500 a month -my e=husband was well paid but not exceptionally so and also works in IT.

valk_scot

I think that as the divorce is getting finalised it's a good time to be reviewing the child maintenence, yes. It's quite common for a couple to work out an ad hoc payment schedule during this transitional time but it's not set in stone. You should definately run the figures through the CSA calculator, also try to tot up how much both parents contribute to the living expenses of the child overall. And you should look into benefits, it may be possible for each parent to claim some. If the mother is getting the family allowance, who gets the tax credits for example?

Thegirl

The 'parent with child' is the parent who gets the child benefit. They get maintenance, the CSA works this out at 15% of his net income, based on the information you have given us. You then subtract the number of nights his daughter is with him, so it would be approx 7.5% of his net income (not sure if they allow 3.5 days a week regardless of what actually happens).

The new CSA system will allow people who complete share residency to not have to pay maintenance I believe, provided they have similar income levels, but that has not come into force yet.

During the divorce finances will come up, so he will then know what she receives. His wife's income may well be similar to before part-time. Even if not a high earner tax credits may top her up to quite a healthy level. And she may well be part-time now due to child care costs making it pointless to work full time. Being part-time perhaps gives her the ability to spend as much time with her daughter as your partner manages on his weeks with her.

My advice would be to look at what he should be paying according to CSA calculations. Then look at her income, including benefits. Your boyfriend can then decide if he wants to pay above the CSA minimum requirement (assuming that he is, you haven't said his income level). Personally, a guy who is willing to pay over an above what he 'has to' to his ex regardless of how skint it leaves him is a guy probably worth holding on to. Some may view him as a mug, I think taking care of your responsibilities is an admirable quality.

As for the two of you. Are you able to rent out your place? Even if the rent doesn't fully cover the mortgage and insurances, you would surely be saving money running just one household. Just a thought if you are struggling to sell and wanted to reduce your outgoings as a couple.

I wouldn't attempt to change the maintenance until the divorce is sorted. They become crazy expensive when someone is piddled off.
Have a look on wikivorce, they offer a lot of help and advice but also a cheap solicitor lead divorce. If it's all relatively amicable, it could all be sorted for less than £400.

LannieDuck

Is it not the case that if he has joint custody (split 50:50), both parents pay child support to each other?

So he pays 15% (less the number of nights he has her) to his ex wife, and she pays 15% (less the number of nights she has her) to him. I'm sure I've read that on the CSA boards before now.

Mojisola

It sounds as if your OH's ex and Jack's ex are similar in their expectations - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4556575

duchy

LannieDuck wrote: »

Is it not the case that if he has joint custody (split 50:50), both parents pay child support to each other?

So he pays 15% (less the number of nights he has her) to his ex wife, and she pays 15% (less the number of nights she has her) to him. I'm sure I've read that on the CSA boards before now.

No -the way it is calculated is described above.

On a side note I have to wonder how it all works with a school age child -parents would need to live very close and the social side of school (going to tea, inviting friends etc) must be very complicated with other parents not knowing whether it's a Mum week or a Dad week. I do know a few couples who tried it but by the time the children were teenagers all had moved to the more traditional week with Mum - visit Dad at weekend situation -in almost all cases at the request of the child as they got fed up with all the extra too-ing and fro-ing.

Threebabes

Ive not read all the comments.

My sisters ex has her two kids twice a night, he did want them three, because the CSA payments reduce the more nights you have them.

If you are not going through the CSA already, I would do so.

rpc

The parent who claims the benefits should get paid 7.5% of the other parent's income. Bear in mind that, as someone who is self-employed, that 7.5% can quite easily work out as £0 if ex goes to CSA.

The issue here is that (in my view) either parent has an equal right to claim the benefits. If the split was even slightly skewed towards mum, she would clearly get the CB and he would pay maintenance.

As it is a straight 50-50, either parent could lodge a CB claim and it would have to all end up in court. There is no "ex would have to agree" as the choice isn't hers to make at the end of the day.

It seems to me that a fair settlement would be for ex to claim CB and no maintenance to be payable.

Leakrgn

I don't know much about the facts and figures of these things, the only input I can offer is that I definitely think it's worth (in the long run) trying to keep it calm and civil and, if necessary, go through mediation instead of the courts.

It is detrimental to everyone's finances and potentially to the welfare of the daughter to spend time and money on battling this out with solicitors and huge amounts of paperwork. Obviously the divorce stuff has to be processed legally, but when it comes to the money if they can keep it civil with a mediator present then I always believe that to be the best way. Only advice I can offer as a child of divorce!! Good luck to all of you