Child Maintenance - Court Order or Reality?

92 Posts


Hi,
My ex-Wife and I have a child together aged 13 years.
A court order from a decade ago states:
1. Both have Shared Residency
2. Father (myself) has contact every weekend Fri-Sat, Fri-Sun, Fri-Sat, Fri-Sun and so on.
Accordingly, I have since been paying my ex-wife Child Maintenance voluntarily, based on the above, however, in reality, he lives with me, and has been for the past 5 years and he sees mum when he sees fit for one or two nights on weekends or perhaps one or two nights a month.
Being the parent with main day-to-day responsibilities, surely I shouldn’t have to pay Child Maintenance based on an out-of-date contact order but just the days he visits his mum i.e. 4 days a month.
On paper, it shows, she is the parent day-to-day responsibilities and claiming child benefits etc. but in reality, it’s not.
Can I just stop paying Child Maintenance and pay for the days he visits her? I’m certain she’ll retaliate but the school and social services are aware of this reality. I also pay for the school-bus, top up his parent-pay, trips, clothes, going out, phone bill etc etc.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
My ex-Wife and I have a child together aged 13 years.
A court order from a decade ago states:
1. Both have Shared Residency
2. Father (myself) has contact every weekend Fri-Sat, Fri-Sun, Fri-Sat, Fri-Sun and so on.
Accordingly, I have since been paying my ex-wife Child Maintenance voluntarily, based on the above, however, in reality, he lives with me, and has been for the past 5 years and he sees mum when he sees fit for one or two nights on weekends or perhaps one or two nights a month.
Being the parent with main day-to-day responsibilities, surely I shouldn’t have to pay Child Maintenance based on an out-of-date contact order but just the days he visits his mum i.e. 4 days a month.
On paper, it shows, she is the parent day-to-day responsibilities and claiming child benefits etc. but in reality, it’s not.
Can I just stop paying Child Maintenance and pay for the days he visits her? I’m certain she’ll retaliate but the school and social services are aware of this reality. I also pay for the school-bus, top up his parent-pay, trips, clothes, going out, phone bill etc etc.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
0
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Replies
So why not simply make a claim with the CMS and make her pay for maintenance?...
Why not? This isn't about revenge. It's about both parents paying to raise their child.
I don't particularly fancy paying her for no reason; yet my taxes seem to be doing just that
CMS will look at child benefit but also at what each of you states in relation to who your son lives with, if it comes to that.
Another example of a man's assets being dissolved first.