Hello, I’m kind of new to this game having separated from my wife last year and currently in the 20 week divorce reflection period. I am trying to come to a sensible offer of maintenance for my two children. Eldest is 18, living away at university during term time but home during holiday periods. Youngest is 13, and we share childcare 2-3 nights per week including the weekend. So I have then Friday/Saturday one week, then one night during the week, then weekend off. So on average, it is less per week.
Ex wife receives PIP for eldest con, DLA for youngest, child benefit for younger daughter, plus UC to top up her income. I know if she goes down CMS route, these payments do not matter as it's unearned income, so it is what it is. But… she has threatened the CMS route if I do not make her an offer of maintenance very soon.
i work shifts so share the school run 50%. So that she drops off and I pick up from school on Week 1. Week 2, I drop off and our daughter gets bus home from school, sometimes to mine and the ex will pick up our daughter from my flat. I pay for bus fares from school to home out of my pocket - whether my daughter is with my overnight or not. My ex wife claims a travel budget for our youngest and keeps 100% for herself, despite the school run being shared 50%.
Ex has asked me to make her an offer of maintenance, which is fair enough. I had looked into 50% shared care, but not sure if I could make it work or not due to my shifts. Ex thinks I suggested that to avoid paying maintenance…
“Him wanting to take your daughter to avoid paying money is concerning to me not the right motivator to want your child. I would just go through the official channels no more discussing.”
CMS calculator tells me the amount I should pay is £76 per week for my daughter. I think I should safely assume that I do not need to pay maintenance for my son while he’s at uni, but please correct me if I am wrong. Official route would end up seeing her lose out, so I want to make her a decent offer. Question is how much? So I am paying a fair amount but still leaving slack for any other childcare costs, but bearing in mind the Travel budget we receive but SHE claims.
Many thanks.
Hi,
If she takes CMS route, the child at University will not qualify for maintenance.
You could use CMS calculator to give you good idea of what payments will look like. Make sure to include the overnight care.
https://www.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintenance
If she is being difficult, she could take CMS route, and perhaps she will receive less money.
If the CMS figure works in your favour, I would suggest you go down that route - you can open a case yourself (one-off £20 fee) and pay direct to your ex once you've been given the calculation. The courts are usually more than happy to accept this (I don't think they can overrule, in fact). After that, there is nothing at all to stop you making additional voluntary payments to your ex if you want to top up.
I would advise raising the case with CMS yourself, those who open a CMS case seem to be the only ones that they listen to. Just from personal experience
Suggest that if you want to make voluntary payments to your 18 year old, that you consider making them direct as an allowance.