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Hi all i wonder if you could help me with a quiery? I have had my kids 7 days out of every 14 for the last few years but despite her earning more than me and having a live in partner who also earns, she gets all the child benefit as she is classed as the resident parent. This, as far as i can see is for no other eason than she is a woman and all things being equal the woman gets residency. As this is what is called a gateway benefit I therefore have to pay her maintenance because she is the resident parent. Is there a way of claiming child benefit myself as i have them the same amount of time she does?.
Cheers
hi
As things stand, one parent has to be allocated as the parent with care, so unless your ex agrees to it, I would say it's unlikely that the benefits office would change that over - you could try approaching your ex and suggesting that one of your children resides with you and the other(s) with your ex - in practice, from the sound of it, there would be no difference except that each of you could then claim child benefit at the first child rate, so you actually get a bit more out of the government, and it's perfectly legal. This would also mean that your ex would have to pay you maintenance based on her income for one child (ie 15% of takehome) and you'd still pay her for the children living with her based on your income - BUT only if you use the CSA, you can use a family based arrangement to agree between yourselves what you each pay.
If your ex won't agree, then the CSA calculation for the maintenance you pay should be based on the number of children (20% of takehome for 2, 25% for 3 or more) less 50% because of shared care, less 7 for each child.
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