Child Maintenance

andy9

HI,


My marriage broke down about 8 months ago and my wife moved out. We have 2 young children and have a 50/50 custody arrangement.
My question is..... If we have a 50/50 custody arrangement and my wife earns more than me, do I have to pay maintenance or am I entitled to maintenance from her?


Things are very amicable between us and I have no issue paying maintenance, but just wondered how I would stand if she ends up earning more than I do.


Thanks
Andy

GwylimT

Technically if the CSA are involved the parent receiving child benefit could claim maintenance, really it is stupid.

Mojisola

Are you still in the family home with the children?

Exactly how many nights a year do the children have with each parent?

As Gwylim asks - which of you claims the CB?

andy9

Hi Mojisola,


Yes I am still in the family home, my wife made the decision to move out.
We have the children exactly the same number of nights each ( well technically one of us will end up having them for one night more than the other over a year! )
The CB is paid in my name, but then split equally between us


Thanks

GwylimT

Technically then you could claim maintenance through the CSA if you wanted to. It has absolutely nothing to do with who earns what.

Mojisola

andy9 wrote: »

Yes I am still in the family home, my wife made the decision to move out.
We have the children exactly the same number of nights each ( well technically one of us will end up having them for one night more than the other over a year! )
The CB is paid in my name, but then split equally between us

In that case, you could claim CM from her.

As you are splitting the CB between you, do either of you need to pay CM?

I would make sure that you are the one who has the children for the extra night.

Have you got the financial agreement and shared care in writing? Things can go smoothly for a time but later deteriorate, often when a new partner comes on the scene.

andy9

No financial agreement in place at present. We are discussing putting one together, which will be primarily for the house, but will be discussing custody arrangements as well.


Thanks for your help

Crellow4

If you have equal care I do not think the CSA will take on the case. It was the intention that under the 2012 scheme, 50/50 shared care cases were rejected........I could be wrong, as my expertise is the 1993/2003 schemes.

HoneyNutLoop

This is copied and pasted from a Child Maintenance Options Consultant's post on Netmums in response to a similar query:
The Child Maintenance Service takes shared care into account in different ways depending on the paying parent’s child maintenance rate. Shared care applies if the paying parent provides overnight care for at least 52 nights per year before a liability will be reduced. This is based on the agreement with the receiving parent and or evidence. Shared care is usually determined over a twelve month basis, but shorter periods can be considered in appropriate cases.

The paying parent’s weekly amount of child maintenance is divided between the number of children that qualify for child maintenance. Shared care is then taken into account, based on the number of nights of shared care for each child. The amount of child maintenance to be paid is then reduced by up to 50 per cent plus a further £7 reduction, depending on the number of nights, as long as this is for more than 175 days or more a year.

The reductions for Basic and Basic plus rates are:
• 1 night per week = amount reduced by 1/7
• 2 nights per week = amount reduced by 2/7
• 3 nights per week = amount reduced by 3/7
• 175 nights or more = amount reduced by half and then minus a further £7.00 per child

A paying parent will usually have to pay at least £5 a week in child maintenance after shared care has been taken into account. However, if their child maintenance is set at Flat rate because the paying parent receives an income-related benefit, allowance or entitlement, then shared care for 52 nights or more a year will reduce child maintenance to £0 for that child. The paying parent also does not have to pay child maintenance for any other qualifying children who live in the same household as that child with shared care.

If child maintenance is set at Flat rate because the paying parent’s income is £100 a week or less, the Child Maintenance Service does not take shared care into account at all. This means the amount of child maintenance would not change.

This is only based on the number of nights a child stays with the paying parent and assumes that the receiving parent still carries out most of the day-to-day care. If the paying parent can prove that they carry out an equal amount of day-to-day care for all children involved, as well as having equal shared care then the Child Maintenance Service regards neither parent to be the paying parent so their child maintenance would be set as nil even if one parent receives child benefits or tax credits as the child’s parent. Where there is equal day to day care, and there is no paying parent means that there cannot be a statutory case and the Child maintenance Service would not be able to process the application as there is no identifiable paying parent.

The bit in bold is most relevant. It's not just equal overnight care that's important, which is the case for shared care, but equal day to day care too.

Mojisola

andy9 wrote: »

My question is..... If we have a 50/50 custody arrangement and my wife earns more than me, do I have to pay maintenance or am I entitled to maintenance from her?

andy9 wrote: »

We have the children exactly the same number of nights each ( well technically one of us will end up having them for one night more than the other over a year! )

The CB is paid in my name, but then split equally between us

Some separated parents who have a 50/50 arrangement claim CB for one child each.

Crellow4

Thanks HoneyNutLoop - I thought there was something in the new scheme about equal care.