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afternoon fellow fathers, new to the site but glad to be with like minded parents who want to protect their interests in bringing up their own kids. My question has to do with Child maintenance. My estranged wife and I are to start divorce proceedings, and as is the usual the women feel they have this 'God given' right to custody of the children. I am planning to go for joint parental and physical custody and want the kids split between me and her on a 50/50 basis. If that is granted do I need to pay her any child support?
Hi There,
As mad as it seems the answers is yes, the payments would be made to whoever claims the child support from the government.
There would be a 50% reduction if you had your children for 50% of the time (40% for 40% of the time ect) but you would still pay
GTTS
It's slightly better than that - if child care is split equally, then you pay 50% of the maintenance less a further 7.00 each week per child.
I think when the new regulations come into force, the shared care calculations will change to be more equitable.
Hi gamaldo.
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant.
Child maintenance is paid to the parent with day-to-day care of the child by the other parent. In your case, where you will be sharing the care of your children equally, the parent who receives Child Benefit for the children will be classed as the provider of day-to-day care. So, even if you share the care of your children, if your children's mother receives Child Benefit for them, she is the parent with day-to-day care and you have a legal responsibility to pay child maintenance. This is set to change in future under the reforms proposed by the Government.
Having said this, you could choose to sort out child maintenance between yourselves. Many parents arrange maintenance this way. It can be the quickest and easiest way and we call it a family-based arrangement. These arrangements are made without involving the Child Support Agency (CSA) or needing to disclose personal information to a third party.
A family-based arrangement is simply an agreement between the two of you about who will provide what for your children. It does not have to be just about exchanging money, you buying them clothes or paying for activities could count, for example.
A family-based arrangement is not legally binding, but it is flexible and can be changed as your children's needs change. If you are able to discuss and negotiate child maintenance, you could agree a family-based arrangement that you and your children's mother are both happy with.
If you would like an idea of how much child maintenance the CSA could work out, you can use our online calculator at: http://www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator. You may find it helpful in setting up your family-based arrangement.
For more information about family-based arrangements and access to useful tools and forms online you can visit http://www.cmoptions.org, or if you would prefer a confidential chat you could call the Child Maintenance Options team on 0800 988 0988 (free from a landline).
We also have a sorting out separation web app that you may find useful, it offers help and support to separating families. The link is: http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation
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