Maintenance entitlement

[itsahotmess]

Can someone please settle this for me.

I was discussing my cousin with DH. She shares one DC with ex. Not married.

They do 50/50 split. She gets nothing in terms of financial support from him. She says this is standard.

I mentioned to DH and he says it would be different in our case, if we split. Not planning on, but just came up in course of discussion.

He said even if we split and did 50/50 I'd get maintenance because were married and he'd have to maintain DC lifestyle.

Who's right? Or Are we both wrong?

Assuming you mean child maintenance, he's wrong.
And even spousal maintenance would be rare.

I think it varies based on individual circumstances. If one parent is a very high earner then they may be ordered to pay even in cases of 50/50 custody, that happens in many celebrity divorces.

I don't think being married makes any difference when it comes to child maintenance either.

Thank you. Yes, sorry, I did mean child maintenance.

Cousin is in a low paid role, and her ex partner has a wealthy family, but I think is also in a low paid role.

I was surprised when she told me he contributed nothing additional as they have a 50/50 split.

DH cannot believe this is right. He is a high earner but not to celebrity level 😂

I told him if we split and took DC 50/50
I'd be entitled to zilch. Unless he decided to contribute from his own goodwill.

People keep posting this, but it's not true. All the divorces I know where one partner is a much higher earner pay CM and spousal maintenance. Although there are usually conditions on the spousal maintenance (either number of years, or the stop in the case of a new cohabiting relationship)

It totally depends on the incomes involved

And if it’s an actual 50/50 split.

Marriage makes no difference to child maintenance. There is the possibility of spousal maintenance if a huge disparity in income but it's increasingly rare as judges prefer a clean break with perhaps a greater share of assets split. If residency is completely 50/50 there should be no CMS payable but again, the wealthier parent may wish to add to the other household for the sake of the child.

I see, thanks for the comments note very interesting.

I'm our case I'm a SAHM and DH earns £150k a year. So perhaps we were comparing apples and oranges when we discussed earlier

But it is true. CM/SM might be payable when there is a large disparity in income. But surely that's the minority of marriages? Most couples I know are on similar incomes.

If you hypothetically split would DH want 50/50 though? The DC would then have to go to childcare on his days - I assume he works long hours as he's a high earner. Surely it would make more sense for the two of you to agree for you to be the RP and receive maintenance from him.

If, hypothetically, we did split, I'm sure DH would want 50/50. Whether that would be achievable for him is a different matter.

He works long hours and travels abroad for work frequently too.

If we were to split I imagine we would be more 70/30.

They are both right. Your dh is right for wanting to pay because he thinks that would be best for his dc, and your cousin is right that no maintenance is owed either way when parents share care 50/50.

In your case (hypothetically) the decent thing for him to do would be to contribute considering your huge gap in income. Two people earning similar amounts wouldn't really have to bother.