I can no longer pay both half of the mortgage and associated insurance plus maintenance. Mixed advice from 3 solicitors.
1. Only pay maintenance (then credit rating falls if mortgage in arrears).
2. Pay the mortgage in full as more than the maintenance.
3. Pay the mortgage get a financial consultation, as the wife is now claiming maintenance for herself as well.
The wife earns half of what I do. I have no money for rent there is a lot of equity in the family home.
I am paying for legal advice but their are conflicting views?
Have gone with option 3 at this point.
It's wise not to stop paying the maintenance. If your name was off the mortgage then payments towards the mortgage could be offset on the amount of maintenance you pay.
Could you make an appointment to go and see your mortgage broker and get agreement to the pay the interest only, or even a payment break, whilst you try and get things sorted out.
It seems to me that the best solution would be to sell the property and split the equity. Is there an occupation order in place?
I don't know a great deal about the financial side of things, but I would have thought it might be better to stop paying to force the sale... you can rebuild your credit score afterwards perhaps.
Hopefully someone else will be along to share their experience with you.
All the best
Yes there is an occupation order in force. I have been told that I have lost the right of occupation as I have been denied access to the property for 6 months.
Hello Stanton
Paying child maintenance and the mortgage on your house can be a separate issue altogether. You may wish to speak to your mortgage provider or seek further legal advice about the mortgage payments.
Child maintenance is a contribution toward the day-to-day living expenses of your children. This can include household bills, mortgage or rent payments and their general living costs such as clothes and food. If you have chosen to put a family-based arrangement in place for your maintenance payments it is up to you and your wife to decide between the two of you what you would like to include in your arrangement. If you wish you can incorporate the mortgage payments into your agreement as part as your maintenance payment.
Many parents do now choose to sort out their maintenance between themselves as it can be the quickest and easiest way of setting up a maintenance agreement. Although family-based arrangements are not legally binding, they are very flexible and can be easily changed.
Child Maintenance Options is an organisation that can help parents by providing them with information about their maintenance options and how to maintain a family-based arrangement. They do have some supporting tools on their website that may help you negotiate an agreement with your wife that you are both happy with.
If you do have a statutory arrangement with the Child Maintenance Service you would only be legally responsible for the child maintenance amount worked out by them, and are not obliged to pay for anything extra. They do have a leaflet for parents to read which explains about how they calculate child maintenance and you can view it by using this link https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/325219/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf.
The Child Maintenance Service can either calculate your child maintenance, then leave you to arrange payments between yourselves, or they can collect payments and pass them on for you.
If you would like to ask the Child Maintenance Service to arrange your child maintenance for you in the future, your responsibility to pay will start from around the point that they contact the other parent. For further information about putting in place a statutory arrangement and the fees involved with this, you will need to contact Child Maintenance Options directly.
If you are considering seeking legal advice about your maintenance payment and the sale of your house, you do have another alternative for your maintenance payments. Another choice you have for arranging child maintenance is through the courts in the form of a Consent Order in England and Wales and Minute of Agreement in Scotland. This is an agreement where you and your wife, with the support of a solicitor, would need to agree what to include then the agreement is presented in court and is ratified. As there are usually costs involved in this type of agreement they are usually done at the same time as parents are going to court for other things such as divorce or a division of assets.
You may also be interested to know the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, 'Sorting out Separation'. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is http://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/
For more information and for a more personalised service, you may wish to visit the Child Maintenance Options website yourself at http://www.cmoptions.org.
Regards
William
Have you started the divorce process? I would say that you need to do that as a priority (you don't need to use a solicitor for this, but might be wise to use a solicitor or a divorce service to advise on the financial side) to get all of the matters resolved, including the property and any spousal maintenance, if any, that you need to pay. I would also look at opening a case with CMS before the divorce, as this will fix the child maintenance side of things rather than leaving it to a court.
There is now a claim for spousel maintenance as well, as all the children as in full time education, is there not a required that she seeks full time employment as well?
I am just a normal working guy with very limited funds.
To the best of my knowledge, if the children are in education, then if there are no reasons why she can't get a job, then the courts do expect her to do this, so I would say that her request for spousal maintenance is on shaky ground.