Hi
I am new and need some advice.
2 children have happily had an agreement in place since ex left (were never married) over 8 years.
She has now requested she wants to review this and I have stated I cant afford anymore, as we also have them 3 nights a week and have costs to pay aswell. we also have a full wardrobe at ours from shoes to underwear. They never pack a bag. currently pay £400 a month.
My wife is now pregnant and I have decided I need to start looking after my own interests and start a pension......if the ex goes via the CMS, as she has threatened, will they look at the pension and try and cap it? As I know they don't take the pension into consideration. Also my work does an odd tax thing where they give me £100 and then take that straight out, but apparently they don't look at pay slips they look at the overall P60? Therefore it will look like I am getting this money when I am not. Also the pension has only just kicked in last two months so will they use the old P60 and not consider this?
Any help will be appreciated.
They look at the most recent tax return from HMRC - e.g. the last one you submitted. After that you can apply for a variation and submit other info.
Regarding pensions https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/children-and-young-people/child-maintenance/child-maintenance-2012-scheme/child-maintenance-calculation/the-2012-child-maintenance-scheme-calculating-maintenance-income/ says:
"How much can you pay into a pension
There’s no limit to the amount of pension contributions that the CMS consider reasonable when they work out how much maintenance should be paid. For example, it would be reasonable to make large contributions to a pension if you’re close to retirement.
However, if you’re making excessive pension contributions this could be seen as getting rid of income to avoid paying maintenance. If you suspect the parent who should pay maintenance is doing this, you can apply to the CMS for a variation. The CMS will ask for evidence of the pension contributions and may recalculate maintenance payments."
Hello Vic_17
As you may already know, the Child Maintenance Service work out child maintenance as a percentage of the paying parent's gross income (income before tax and National Insurance, but after pension contributions have been paid) - this is to ensure that payments are affordable. They take into account any other children that live in the paying parent’s household and also any other children that the paying parent is required to pay maintenance for. For every case, the gross income figure is reviewed each year in order to take account of newer income information given to the government’s revenue and customs department, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
You can find more information about how the Child Maintenance Service work out child maintenance payments and what they take into consideration on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance.
For 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 website that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William