Whatbis included in maintainance??

Eggshell

Hi - I wonder if I can take peoples views.

What is maintainace expected to cover? I pay £500 per month to support my girl. My ex- partner he just contacting me asking for another £40 (one off payment) for gymnastic lessons.
My feeling is this is already covered in the £500 a month i pay, no?

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence but payments have just been reduced as I have just had a baby and therefore the payments have reduced by £50 per month in accordance with the CSA and their calculator. I have received this request literally within 5 days of the letter she received advising of the reduction.

So in summary, should I be paying for these lessons or, as I think, this should be taken from the £500 a month I already pay to support my little girl.

If not, what exactly is child maintaiance supposed to cover and not cover?!

Appreciate people’s thoughts?

Mojisola

Eggshell wrote: »

If not, what exactly is child maintaiance supposed to cover and not cover?!

It isn't worked out by what the money is meant to cover - it's a percentage of your income (with other things taken into account).

The parent with care has to manage the money they have coming in.

If you still have some spare income, it's worth thinking about funding something directly for your daughter, like gymnastic lessons.

Eggshell

Thanks i understand it’s a percentage of salary. I obviously pay for everything when my girl stays with me every other weekend and then I pay the support to cover the other things. I assumed that the principal of this costs was so my ex partner could could use my money aswell as her own to pay for things such as clothes, food, school trips, activities etc etc.
This was why I was confused at the request to pay for more things when I already pay support which I felt covered this type of thing?

Comms69

one way to look at it is half of everything.


BUT to be clear; maintenance covers everything from a legal point of view; and usually doesn't from a moral one.

Mojisola

Eggshell wrote: »

This was why I was confused at the request to pay for more things when I already pay support which I felt covered this type of thing?

Your ex could ask you for all your income if she wanted - you don't have to say yes.

BAFE

what percentage of your salary is £500 a month? the minimum the absent parent has to be is about 15% of their salary. This is the absolute minimum that has to be paid and if the parent wants to they can always give more but they are not obliged to.

The other parent pays the rest of the child expenses out of salary, child tax credits, child benefit and child support.

Jack_Johnson_the_acorn

Eggshell wrote: »

Hi - I wonder if I can take peoples views.

What is maintainace expected to cover? I pay £500 per month to support my girl. My ex- partner he just contacting me asking for another £40 (one off payment) for gymnastic lessons.
My feeling is this is already covered in the £500 a month i pay, no?

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence but payments have just been reduced as I have just had a baby and therefore the payments have reduced by £50 per month in accordance with the CSA and their calculator. I have received this request literally within 5 days of the letter she received advising of the reduction.

So in summary, should I be paying for these lessons or, as I think, this should be taken from the £500 a month I already pay to support my little girl.

If not, what exactly is child maintaiance supposed to cover and not cover?!

Appreciate people’s thoughts?

It's entirely up to you. You're legally obliged to pay a percentage of your income. You're already doing that. If you feel you can afford to pay more and you want to, go ahead. If not, don't.