I am recently separated and am trying to work out what I should be paying my partner in maintenance. We still own a house and I am paying half the mortgage as she would not be able to buy me out. I have also done the maintenance calculator to see how much I should be paying, Should the amount I am paying for the mortgage be included in the maintenance amount or should it be separate. I hope this makes sense.
Many thanks for any help or advice.
Hi
If you can come to a family based arrangement based, on this then that's between the two of you, but the CMS takes no count of mortgage payments, or anything else other than your income and pension payments to calculate child maintenance (as per the calculator). The situation with the house and mortgage payments would be part of the divorce settlement.
Hello Jh123
If you and the other parent were to arrange a family-based arrangement, which is an agreement between both parents to decide who will provide what for a child, this may be something that you could both negotiate between yourselves. Family-based arrangements are not legally enforceable and there are no strict rules or formulas to follow when calculating child maintenance. Therefore, parents can decide the terms of their agreement to suit their current circumstances.
If an application were made to the Government’s statutory scheme, the Child Maintenance Service they work out child maintenance using the paying parent's gross income, which is income before Income Tax and National Insurance are taken off, but after occupational or personal pension scheme contributions are taken away. In most cases this gross income figure comes from information given to HM Revenue & Customs by the paying parent, their employer or a third-party such as an accountant.
I have included a link that provides further information on how the Child Maintenance Service calculates child maintenance that you may find helpful, https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance.
For more information on the different ways to set up child maintenance and for a more personalised service, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options website at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The DWP have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.
Regards
William