How much is an acceptable amount?

Lily-121

I have a newborn baby and I am currently sorting out child support payments with my ex partner (babies father) he plans to see the child twice a week but in my home (as he lives 2 hours away) until the baby is a bit older when he will then take him home.

He is 23, graduated 2 years ago and is self-employed so his salary varies but usually it is no lower than 1300 and no higher than about 2600 per month. He does not have any other children.

We are trying to be civil and doing this outside of court and he has asked me to come back to him with what I think is a suitable amount of money for him to give me for the child, but I have no idea. I have no experience of child support so I don't want to ask for an amount that is unreasonable nor to little.

DUTR

Well £1300+£2600=£3900 /2 =£1950 as an average, 9% of that is £175per month. A lot for some, too little for others.

shoe*diva79

DUTR has worked it out on NET pay where as 9% should be on gross pay, if you want to work it out on net then you should use 15% of net figure which is £292.50 (on average of £1950)

DUTR

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

DUTR has worked it out on NET pay where as 9% should be on gross pay, if you want to work it out on net then you should use 15% of net figure which is £292.50 (on average of £1950)

I was using the OP's figures as a gross amount. If I apply deductions from the supplied figures , I get the average net to be £1335.75, 15% of that £200 per month.

shoe*diva79

I have assumed the OP has supplied net figures not gross.
OP, can you confirm if they are NET or GROSS?

justontime

It depends what you mean by self employed. If he has his own ltd company it's likely that as an employee of the company he draws a small salary and takes the rest as a director dividend. If so the question about net/gross is a bit different.

Why not take the average figure that DUTR provided and put it through the Child Maintenance Options calculator to give you an idea of a fair figure.

shoe*diva79

justontime wrote: »

It depends what you mean by self employed. If he has his own ltd company it's likely that as an employee of the company he draws a small salary and takes the rest as a director dividend. If so the question about net/gross is a bit different.

Why not take the average figure that DUTR provided and put it through the Child Maintenance Options calculator to give you an idea of a fair figure.

That is all fine if its the Gross figure, but if its his net then its not accurate.

justontime

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

That is all fine if its the Gross figure, but if its his net then its not accurate.

As I mentioned above, it depends how he pays himself but if it is mostly dividend income there may not be much difference. As they are trying to work it out between themselves I'm sure he will tell her if the figures he has provided are net or gross.

DUTR

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

That is all fine if its the Gross figure, but if its his net then its not accurate.

In post #5 you asked the OP to confirm, which way the salary is presented, I'm not sure which part is inaccurate as such, as there are several scenarios, the OP has posted GROSS of which then it is 9% (CSA3) if it is NET, then it is 15% (CSA2) ,to complicate things the self employment status may have effect on the final calculation.
As far as I know there will be no new CSA2 cases which is why initially I discluded a 15% of net.

lazer

Lily-121 wrote: »

I have a newborn baby and I am currently sorting out child support payments with my ex partner (babies father) he plans to see the child twice a week but in my home (as he lives 2 hours away) until the baby is a bit older when he will then take him home.

He is 23, graduated 2 years ago and is self-employed so his salary varies but usually it is no lower than 1300 and no higher than about 2600 per month. He does not have any other children.

We are trying to be civil and doing this outside of court and he has asked me to come back to him with what I think is a suitable amount of money for him to give me for the child, but I have no idea. I have no experience of child support so I don't want to ask for an amount that is unreasonable nor to little.

OP - are the figures you have quoted his turnover or profit.


If they are his turnover, say he was in construction or IT or something, then he will be able to deduct expenses from it and it is his overall profit figure you need.


Example:
HE could be travelling 50 mile a day to client sites - that's £22.50 a day less profit (45 a mile)


So his monthly income of £1300 would only actually be £850 (and that excludes other expenses such as materials, tools, training courses, home office use, work clothes, etc, etc, etc).


If he is self employed you need his profit figure for last year (or estimated for this year) and use that as the basis for your calculation.


If you are trying to keep it civil - I would suggest using 9% of the lower amount which is £117 (assuming its the gross amount), round up to maybe £125, and then suggest that for months when he makes more he voluntary gives you an extra £100 or £150 etc