Child Maintenance advice 19 November 2019 at 4:26PM in MoneySaving dads 22 replies 2.8K views

gareth5590

My ex-wife has proposed I pay her a ‘one off payment’ instead of my paying my monthly child maintenance. We have a consent order which has been in place for the last 3 years. The reason she has suggested this is that I’m about to retire and my financial earnings will drop as I will be living off my pension. Can this be done legally and if so how would I go about it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Comms69

You can gift her whatever you want, but she can go to the CMS at anytime for payment.

Mojisola

gareth5590 wrote: »

My ex-wife has proposed I pay her a ‘one off payment’ instead of my paying my monthly child maintenance. We have a consent order which has been in place for the last 3 years. The reason she has suggested this is that I’m about to retire and my financial earnings will drop as I will be living off my pension. Can this be done legally and if so how would I go about it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

You will still be liable for regular payments even if you gift a lump sum now.

If you were still a family unit, your joint spending would have to adapt to the new, lower pension income. The same applies now. Your monthly contribution will be lower.

If you want to, and are able to, pay more each month than the legal amount, just do it.

gareth5590

Thank you both that's what I thought.......greatly appreciate your time/advice.

Socajam

I would not do it.
As stated above, pay more if you can, but do not give her the lump sump. Circumstances change, for example if she were to spend all the money upfront, then what

gareth5590

Thank you.....

Socajam

Just by her asking for a "one off payment" would be a huge red flat for you not to do it

gareth5590

Having looked into it now you are totally right and my spider senses were tingling!


Thanks again, really appreciated.

flanker6

If you're about to retire, does that mean that you'll have more free time to spend with child/ren?


If so, and it is practical, your ex may be grateful if you have child/ren with you some regular days of the week and this should lead to a balancing out of the child support payments.

gareth5590

That's going to be part of my suggestion now - thanks

gareth5590

The saga of this continues!





My ex-wife is unhappy that I won't go for the lump sum option and is refusing to accept my offer of child maintenance in line with my reduced income. I have used the CMS calculator and even offered her slightly more than I would be due to pay each month. I have also pointed out if we go via CMS I will pay 20% extra and she will be deducted 4% but she still won't change her mind.





My question is - as the party who won’t agree, should she be the one to be contacting the CMS and paying the £20 registration fee? Also, if I continue to pay my ex direct what I'm due on the CMS calculator what will the CMS if I don't pay via them?



Thanks for any advice