Finances When Separating with Child

Ginger70

Asking on behalf of a colleague whose slightly confused as am I.
He's split from his wife and they've agreed to more or less shared residency of 1 child - it works out she will have 4 overnights and he'll have 3 - her choice and he doesn't want to make waves. He will pay for all of child's needs when in his care and half of all uniforms, school trips activities etc. He was happy to pay maintenance for the 1 day discrepancy however this is where we are confused.
If he had no overnights the CMS calculator says he would need to pay £180 a month but with 3 overnights a week its say £102. This appears to be £180.00 less 3 7ths for the 3 days he'll have the child.
Surely if he and his ex both have 3 equal overnights he should only pay for the 1 extra his ex will have - not the 1 extra plus the equal 3?
Can he claim from her for the 3 nights she doesn't have their child? 
As she gets all the child related benefits as well he's wondering how he'll be able to provide for his child for 3 days a week and still pay rent and bills.

Report

marcia_

Ginger70 said:

Asking on behalf of a colleague whose slightly confused as am I.
He's split from his wife and they've agreed to more or less shared residency of 1 child - it works out she will have 4 overnights and he'll have 3 - her choice and he doesn't want to make waves. He will pay for all of child's needs when in his care and half of all uniforms, school trips activities etc. He was happy to pay maintenance for the 1 day discrepancy however this is where we are confused.
If he had no overnights the CMS calculator says he would need to pay £180 a month but with 3 overnights a week its say £102. This appears to be £180.00 less 3 7ths for the 3 days he'll have the child.
Surely if he and his ex both have 3 equal overnights he should only pay for the 1 extra his ex will have - not the 1 extra plus the equal 3?
Can he claim from her for the 3 nights she doesn't have their child? 
As she gets all the child related benefits as well he's wondering how he'll be able to provide for his child for 3 days a week and still pay rent and bills.

Report

 Yes he can claim from her 

Ginger70

marcia_ said:

Ginger70 said:

Asking on behalf of a colleague whose slightly confused as am I.
He's split from his wife and they've agreed to more or less shared residency of 1 child - it works out she will have 4 overnights and he'll have 3 - her choice and he doesn't want to make waves. He will pay for all of child's needs when in his care and half of all uniforms, school trips activities etc. He was happy to pay maintenance for the 1 day discrepancy however this is where we are confused.
If he had no overnights the CMS calculator says he would need to pay £180 a month but with 3 overnights a week its say £102. This appears to be £180.00 less 3 7ths for the 3 days he'll have the child.
Surely if he and his ex both have 3 equal overnights he should only pay for the 1 extra his ex will have - not the 1 extra plus the equal 3?
Can he claim from her for the 3 nights she doesn't have their child? 
As she gets all the child related benefits as well he's wondering how he'll be able to provide for his child for 3 days a week and still pay rent and bills.

Report

 Yes he can claim from her 

Sorry just to confirm - so they both put in a claim against each other and each will receive the amount calculated on their individual income?

marcia_

Ginger70 said:

marcia_ said:

Ginger70 said:

Asking on behalf of a colleague whose slightly confused as am I.
He's split from his wife and they've agreed to more or less shared residency of 1 child - it works out she will have 4 overnights and he'll have 3 - her choice and he doesn't want to make waves. He will pay for all of child's needs when in his care and half of all uniforms, school trips activities etc. He was happy to pay maintenance for the 1 day discrepancy however this is where we are confused.
If he had no overnights the CMS calculator says he would need to pay £180 a month but with 3 overnights a week its say £102. This appears to be £180.00 less 3 7ths for the 3 days he'll have the child.
Surely if he and his ex both have 3 equal overnights he should only pay for the 1 extra his ex will have - not the 1 extra plus the equal 3?
Can he claim from her for the 3 nights she doesn't have their child? 
As she gets all the child related benefits as well he's wondering how he'll be able to provide for his child for 3 days a week and still pay rent and bills.

Report

 Yes he can claim from her 

Sorry just to confirm - so they both put in a claim against each other and each will receive the amount calculated on their individual income?

 Yes thats right 

TELLIT01

marcia_ said:

Ginger70 said:

marcia_ said:

Ginger70 said:

Asking on behalf of a colleague whose slightly confused as am I.
He's split from his wife and they've agreed to more or less shared residency of 1 child - it works out she will have 4 overnights and he'll have 3 - her choice and he doesn't want to make waves. He will pay for all of child's needs when in his care and half of all uniforms, school trips activities etc. He was happy to pay maintenance for the 1 day discrepancy however this is where we are confused.
If he had no overnights the CMS calculator says he would need to pay £180 a month but with 3 overnights a week its say £102. This appears to be £180.00 less 3 7ths for the 3 days he'll have the child.
Surely if he and his ex both have 3 equal overnights he should only pay for the 1 extra his ex will have - not the 1 extra plus the equal 3?
Can he claim from her for the 3 nights she doesn't have their child? 
As she gets all the child related benefits as well he's wondering how he'll be able to provide for his child for 3 days a week and still pay rent and bills.

Report

 Yes he can claim from her 

Sorry just to confirm - so they both put in a claim against each other and each will receive the amount calculated on their individual income?

 Yes thats right 

That seems utterly pointless as surely they will be handing over equal amounts of money.  As the mother has the child for one more night each week, all they need to do is agree how much she should receive for that night.  No mention of Child Benefit has been made but that is generally paid to the parent having the child for the greater time.  The mother in this instance.

ButterCheese

Lots of things to consider here.

1. Ensure it is 50/50 if you can, then no maintenance is due for either party.  Me and my ex do it over a fortnite as it's easier (one gets 1 night extra a week but the next week the other parent gets one night extra so it evens out).

2. Offering to "pay" for the other parents 1 extra night seems ludicrous in practice.  There will inevitably be times when days need to be juggled around.  If she has an appointment and needs dad to have her, is dad then going to ask for that maintenance back for the week?  It doesn't really cost anything more for an extra 1 night a week, perhaps an evening meal.  Everything else is negligable.

3. Remember that only one parent can claim child benefit.  They then need to give half to the other parent.  We didn't know this.  My ex was claiming it for 5 years and I was getting nothing, even though we were 50/50.  My partner's ex was even worse - said he didn't need it, so she claimed it all, then years later he demaded it.  Nothing in writing, so we had to pay him £24k

4. Get everything in writing.  Get it all done through the divorce.  Many partners leave on good terms, do the cheapo divorce online and think no moneys need to be discussed, and expect the other will be honest.  This honesty soon goes out the window when the ex gets another partner

marcia_

TELLIT01 said:

marcia_ said:

Ginger70 said:

marcia_ said:

Ginger70 said:

Asking on behalf of a colleague whose slightly confused as am I.
He's split from his wife and they've agreed to more or less shared residency of 1 child - it works out she will have 4 overnights and he'll have 3 - her choice and he doesn't want to make waves. He will pay for all of child's needs when in his care and half of all uniforms, school trips activities etc. He was happy to pay maintenance for the 1 day discrepancy however this is where we are confused.
If he had no overnights the CMS calculator says he would need to pay £180 a month but with 3 overnights a week its say £102. This appears to be £180.00 less 3 7ths for the 3 days he'll have the child.
Surely if he and his ex both have 3 equal overnights he should only pay for the 1 extra his ex will have - not the 1 extra plus the equal 3?
Can he claim from her for the 3 nights she doesn't have their child? 
As she gets all the child related benefits as well he's wondering how he'll be able to provide for his child for 3 days a week and still pay rent and bills.

Report

 Yes he can claim from her 

Sorry just to confirm - so they both put in a claim against each other and each will receive the amount calculated on their individual income?

 Yes thats right 

That seems utterly pointless as surely they will be handing over equal amounts of money.  As the mother has the child for one more night each week, all they need to do is agree how much she should receive for that night.  No mention of Child Benefit has been made but that is generally paid to the parent having the child for the greater time.  The mother in this instance.

 It is pointless but they can both claim child support from each other. If one party feels only they should be paid because they have the child one more night they may soon back down when they find out they also have to pay CS. Its much better if they come to a private arrangement then getting agencies involved 

 true about the benefits. Should be shared by the claiming parent but this almost never happens. 

sheramber

TELLIT01 said:

marcia_ said:

Ginger70 said:

marcia_ said:

Ginger70 said:

Asking on behalf of a colleague whose slightly confused as am I.
He's split from his wife and they've agreed to more or less shared residency of 1 child - it works out she will have 4 overnights and he'll have 3 - her choice and he doesn't want to make waves. He will pay for all of child's needs when in his care and half of all uniforms, school trips activities etc. He was happy to pay maintenance for the 1 day discrepancy however this is where we are confused.
If he had no overnights the CMS calculator says he would need to pay £180 a month but with 3 overnights a week its say £102. This appears to be £180.00 less 3 7ths for the 3 days he'll have the child.
Surely if he and his ex both have 3 equal overnights he should only pay for the 1 extra his ex will have - not the 1 extra plus the equal 3?
Can he claim from her for the 3 nights she doesn't have their child? 
As she gets all the child related benefits as well he's wondering how he'll be able to provide for his child for 3 days a week and still pay rent and bills.

Report

 Yes he can claim from her 

Sorry just to confirm - so they both put in a claim against each other and each will receive the amount calculated on their individual income?

 Yes thats right 

That seems utterly pointless as surely they will be handing over equal amounts of money.  As the mother has the child for one more night each week, all they need to do is agree how much she should receive for that night.  No mention of Child Benefit has been made but that is generally paid to the parent having the child for the greater time.  The mother in this instance.

It will depend on each parent ‘s income how much they pay.

If he earns £40k and she is on £14k  she would be assessed to pay less. 

If it is a private arrangement then it is up to the parties concerned to come to an agreement which should be backed up in writing. 

Rejast

Just to clear up a few things:
Mum and Dad are free to make any agreement they like however if a claim is made to the Child Maintenance Service, Dad's legal obligation would be to pay the required child maintenance and nothing more. Morally however he may wish and agree to split other costs such as activities, uniform, school trips etc.

Mum would be the child's primary carer and therefore eligible to make a claim for child maintenance as a receiving parent.

Dad cannot make a counter claim against Mum as he is not the child's primary carer.

Dad would get a 3/7 reduction in the weekly child maintenance to reflect the financial cost of the care he provides for the 3 nights per week. £180 / 7 = £25.70 ish per night. Mum gets £102 to support the child for her 4 nights and Dad keeps £78 to support the child for his 3 nights.

marcia_

Rejast said:

Just to clear up a few things:
Mum and Dad are free to make any agreement they like however if a claim is made to the Child Maintenance Service, Dad's legal obligation would be to pay the required child maintenance and nothing more. Morally however he may wish and agree to split other costs such as activities, uniform, school trips etc.

Mum would be the child's primary carer and therefore eligible to make a claim for child maintenance as a receiving parent.

Dad cannot make a counter claim against Mum as he is not the child's primary carer.

Dad would get a 3/7 reduction in the weekly child maintenance to reflect the financial cost of the care he provides for the 3 nights per week. £180 / 7 = £25.70 ish per night. Mum gets £102 to support the child for her 4 nights and Dad keeps £78 to support the child for his 3 nights.

 I don't believe that is right. My nephew made a claim against his ex as they had equal nights with the children and they were both to pay child support. He said they then both backed down and came to an agreement between themselves 

Rejast

For child maintenance purposes a child either has a primary carer or doesn't.

Chapter 5 of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-maintenance-decision-makers-guide explains if both parents provide equal day to day care there would be no parent with care and any case would be closed or application refused.

Marcia, That maybe the case if there are multiple children and is pretty common when there is a dispute on the primary carer and one parent tries to get Child Benefit to overcome CMS's child benefit presumption. Child Benefit usually ends up awarding to each parent for one child each.

Mum then claims from Dad for child A as that child's primary carer , and Dad would claim from Mum for Child B as that child's primary carer.