Getting married, joint finances who pays for childcare?

74jax

Poppie68 wrote: »

We have been married 23 years and have always held separate bank accounts with which we split the bills and whatever is left in both accounts is used by both of us..i can't see your marriage lasting if you actually go through with maintaining both your accounts and whatever is left after bills is only available to the account owner..it's a huge recipe for arguments.

We work it this way, it's no problem, we split the bills in a joint account and he keeps his and I keep mine. We have no need for one pot.

JimmyTheWig

onlyroz wrote: »

Also, if you're no longer entitled to child tax credits can you claim childcare vouchers?

Hardly seems worth it when the OP will be paying very little in income tax anyway.

Mojisola

krustylouise wrote: »

Currently OH lives with his Dad and the only outgoings he has are mobile, insurance and petrol.

He's going to have a shock when he sees how much money it takes to run a household!

purpleshoes_2

LannieDuck wrote: »

I didn't think working tax credit had anything to do with children? So nothing to do with children's father.

OP is going to be £600 worse off if her OH moves in. That's not her fault anymore than its his. Presumably he wants to live with her, and she wants to live with him, so makes sense to me that they should split the cost of their new arrangement.

I didnt say that the working tax credits were to do with the childrens father. Shes already said elsewhere in the thread that he doesnt pay enough maintenance. What I meant was, its not her new husbands fault that shes losing WTC when he moves in. Its the way the system is set up, its obviously means tested. You have more income, which they will have, you lose the WTC.

Hes paying £570 a month towards joint bills as she has just posted. Im not sure how you get to a situation where both of them have exactly the same spending money at the end of the month, Im sure there will be a way, but its obviously going to mean him paying more than the 570 hes currently going to be paying.

But if the dad paid more maintenance than he does at the moment, there would be a bigger contribution towards childcare than there currently is. So in some respects, the new husband will be paying more because the previous partner isnt paying his fair share towards childcare or any other costs the maintenance he should be paying is going on.

I think sorting out the issue with the maintenance first might go halfway to sorting out the rest. Because there might be resentment on the new husbands part that hes paying for costs that are legally the exes.

duchy

purpleshoes wrote: »

.

But if the dad paid more maintenance than he does at the moment, there would be a bigger contribution towards childcare than there currently is. So in some respects, the new husband will be paying more because the previous partner isnt paying his fair share towards childcare or any other costs the maintenance he should be paying is going on.

I think sorting out the issue with the maintenance first might go halfway to sorting out the rest. Because there might be resentment on the new husbands part that hes paying for costs that are legally the exes.

What DOES Dad pay compared to the CSA figure Louise ?

Incidently I notice you pay childcare for every single week of the year -Is that right ? Do you never take a half term off or Christmas or Easter ?

My childcare is £12.50 per week x 39 weeks a year and £100 per week x 13 weeks a year.

krustylouise

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Hardly seems worth it when the OP will be paying very little in income tax anyway.

That comment has come across as slightly derogatory. I don't know if this is how it was intended but it didn't come across very well.

krustylouise

duchy wrote: »

What DOES Dad pay compared to the CSA figure Louise ?

My ex pays the 15% he is meant to pay based on his income figures that he has provided me, and the odd £2 more {apparently}. But he has been working as a bouncer part time on top of his full wage and didn't tell me he was earning an extra £100pw....for I don't know how long. Ex doesn't have DD over night any longer as he works and can't have her {another bone of contention as I try to ensure DD has a relationship with ex but he really doesn't seem to want it as much as he *should*}

krustylouise

duchy wrote: »

What DOES Dad pay compared to the CSA figure Louise ?

Incidently I notice you pay childcare for every single week of the year -Is that right ? Do you never take a half term off or Christmas or Easter ?

My childcare is £12.50 per week x 39 weeks a year and £100 per week x 13 weeks a year.

I do take days/weeks off as and when I can, I get 20days a year holiday. This year I have taken 1 week after we get married so isn't in the hols. The rest has been used and I currently have 2 days left which I have to save for Christmas as I have no childcare at all then.

I do work out the full years as a worst case scenario, but if I'm honest I get 3-4 weeks of that off work. So I get away with £300-£400 per year.

duchy

and extra £15 is neither here nor there really (now now you're paying it rather than tax credits it may be an incentive to see if savings can be made by using some of both of your annual leave).

Frankly you HTB has had a very easy ride at his Dad's not paying rent or food. Has he ever lived independently or are your household costs going to come as a huge shock to him ?

JimmyTheWig

krustylouise wrote: »

That comment has come across as slightly derogatory. I don't know if this is how it was intended but it didn't come across very well.

Sorry, certainly didn't mean it as derogatory.

My point is that some solutions will be great for some people but won't really work for others.

In this case, for example, childcare vouchers are great for those with high childcare costs and high incomes because it means that the childcare costs can reduce the amount of income tax someone pays.
They're not much use for those with low childcare costs (for obvious reasons) or low incomes (as there is not much income tax there to be reduced).

Does that explanation make it sound better?