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To cut a long story short; I've split from my ex and we have a 2 year old son. We've got a family based arrangement on how much maintenance I pay as our son primarily lives with her. I have my son 7 days out of 14 and 5 nights out of 14. Friday to Sunday one week, Friday to Monday the next. I live in Sussex, my ex and my son live in Essex. At the moment I pick my son up from his mums and then take him home at the end of my allotted time with him, at a large fuel cost each month, plus toll costs, plus car wear and tear (owned the car 4 months and already had to buy 2 new tyres). I spend a minimum of 5 hours a week in the car picking my boy up from his mums or wherever she is when I cross into Essex.
Should these expenses on travel, and to some extent the time spent driving (I sometimes have to turn work down), be taken into account when paying my child maintenance?
Should my ex be doing one of these journeys each week?
Have you looked at the CSA calculator to see what you should be paying? There will be allowances for the fact that you have them for 156 nights per year by my calculation - which is bang on a reduction of 3/7ths from the 15% of takehome pay you would be assessed for - so I reckon you should be paying about 8.5% of takehome pay. In addition, any reasonable travelling expense in excess of 15 per week can be deducted from your takehome pay - I think fuel costs would be allowed, but I'm not sure about wear and tear.
If it sounds like you are paying more than this, then it may be worth renegotiating the family based arrangement, and if your ex isn't prepared to do this, then you could ask the CSA to take your case. However, beware that your ex may try to cut down contact in order to reduce the deductions on the basic calculation.
Hi I'm William the Child Maintenance Options consultant.
Thank you for your post, with you and your ex-partner already having a family-based arrangement in place, then you can decide between yourselves how much child maintenance you will pay, and even what counts as child maintenance. For example, you could negotiate if your fuel cost would be taken into consideration with your maintenance payments.
15% is the correct liability amount to be paid for 1 child, however there are allowances for if you have your child stay overnight (for a minimum of 52 nights a year) or you could apply for a "variation" to take contact costs into account.
In terms of monetary amounts, you can get an idea what your child maintenance payments would be through the Child Support Agency (CSA) using the Child Maintenance Options calculator. You could also use this amount as a starting point for your family-based arrangement.
If you need some more information about where you stand legally, it might be worth contacting Community Legal Advice. Their helpline number is 0845 345 4345.
There's also a web application on this website at http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation that you may find useful as it offers help and support to separating families.
For more information about family-based arrangements and access to useful tools and forms online you can visit www.cmoptions.org, or if you'd prefer a confidential chat you could call the Child Maintenance Options team on 0800 988 0988 (free from a landline).
I know that my ex will not agree to any change in the maintenance money paid if I were to start taking travel/fuel costs into account. If I was to go through CSA would they do it anyway? I based the money I pay on the CSA calculator but am not sure I've done the sums right. Also would I be entitled to claim working tax credits?
From what you have said, with 156 nights (the CSA work in multiples of 52 nights), then I reckon the calculation of 8.5% on takehome pay should be correct before any allowance for travel - however, be aware that if your ex cuts contact down even by one night per year, then the deduction is 2/7ths, so the effective percent is then 10.7%.
If you are paying more than this, then if your ex won't agree to the new figure, you can ask the CSA to take the case and you can ask for the variation for costs to keep in touch.
Hi
I'm William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. The Child Support Agency (CSA) does take different factors into account when calculating maintenance. You may wish to contact them directly to enquire if they would take travel costs into account under your circumstances. For more information about how the CSA work out child maintenance, visit www.gov.uk/child-support-agency.
For more information about family-based arrangements and access to useful tools and forms online you can visit www.cmoptions.org, or if you'd prefer a confidential chat you could call the Child Maintenance Options team on 0800 988 0988 (free from a landline).
Thanks
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