[Solved] CMS Variation

No responses, so far so I guess not...?

I am thinking about raising a petition on the government website (when they reopen it) to cover the following:
1) adding spousal maintenance as a variation to income. So if you have a court order to pay your spouse £400 a month, this should be used as a variation when calculating child maintenance.
2) plus any variation (travel costs or the above) should be grossed up first and then deducted from gross income. At the moment, they do not gross up the variation, so if you claim £20 a week travel in a variation this total £1,040 a year from your net income, which depending on your tax bracket could work out at £1,792 gross (40% tax and 2% NIC). In the past, maintenance was calculated on net income, but this changed in 2012 I think, and it appears they did not think about grossing up variations.

It would be good to get opinions from others paying child maintenance, especially if you are paying spousal maintenance and or claiming a variation.

Thanks

Realistically, I don't think you'd get the numbers you need for a petition to succeed (though no harm in trying). It might be worth going to see your MP to see if you can get anywhere that way.

hi,

it seems you can go back to court for a variation on spousal, if theres been big changes in income.

https://www.familylawpartners.co.uk/blog/spousal-maintenance-what-is-it-why-do-i-have-to-pay-it-how-much-and-for-how-long/

There’s no default right to spousal so you’re best seeing a solicitor for an hour and seeing what they think
Your chances are . Depends a lot on the exes needs etc , peoples incomes and so on ...