My Wife has moved to Wales with her parents and my two children. They went in late Feb and I am almost ready to follow (job secured, hunting for rental property as unable to sell family home until after proceedings).
Since November last year I have been paying maintenance as they initially moved down the road (parents other house).
There is a court order for shared custody which is a bit involved but works out as a 55:45 split in her favour provided I can get there within 12 months. Covid has made contact almost impossible and my wife has done a good job of restricting telephone contact too (I think she is gearing up to challenge the agreement).
The problem I have is that after paying for rent, utils, taxes, insurances, fuel and maintenance (re-calculated to take into account the extra nights),... I will have less than £70 a month to spend on things like childcare, clothing and entertainment. I may not be able to do it for long unless we can sell the family home soon.
Even on benefits and with free childcare + nominal housing costs (£50 pcm), my wife has considerably more disposable income. She can earn £25k if she works full time and in a few years will match my income at the top of the teacher pay scale. She is able to claim all tax credits and child benefits which will already push her income above mine the moment she starts work.
I understand the CMS will continue to award in her favour about £160 pcm (twice my disposable income) even with the new arrangement. Is it possible for the financial settlement court dealing with the divorce to consider this and impose a more reasonable figure or end the claim? Or is there another avenue I can explore?
The court can impose a child maintenance figure, but after 12 months, CMS can override that, so whatever you do, don't give away a lump sum or anything like that on the basis of a low child maintenance figure as you'll lose out in the long run.
I'm afraid that the figure calculated by CMS is what you will almost certainly end up paying unless your ex agrees to a lower figure, in which case you can make a family based arrangement - basically you agree with your ex what to pay. When you do pay, do so by bank transfer and make sure it states "child maintenance" as there reference, so there is no doubt what the money is for.