Cms (child maintenance)

[standyourground1]

Hi

are there any chats or links on cms. Can’t seem to find any. Questions I have are

if you get less that 50/50 from the court, will the parent with less days have to pay maintenance.

is there a cut off for when cms is due? So if one parent has 2 days a week and half school holidays, will they need to pay maintenance

thanks

It is worked out based on nights with each parent.

Thank you

Is there a set guide they use?

so x nights or less a year the x is paid.

Yes. There's a calculator online.

Its very clearly explained on the CMS website. What it doesn't do it specify what the maintenance should cover so it can still end up being an argument because the rate is pretty paltry.

Thanks. I just tried the calculator on there and even when it states “with shared care 50/50 there will be no payments required”. Yes when I put the details in and said 175-182 nights a year each, it’s still came up with £150 a
month.

Well yes because unless it's exactly 182 it would be less than 50/50

Also, £150 a month is absolutely nothing. If the non resident parent is only having them two nights a week, the resident parent will be holding the can for uniforms, activities, day to day costs. When a trip to the ice cream van costs a £5 £150 doesn't go far. And that's saying nothing about childcare costs.

The £150 cost came up when I did 3-4 nights a week. I was just surprised one parent would have to pay £150 when having 3-4 nights.

But if it's more 3 than 4 it works out at less than 50% overall. And as I said, only you can really know if you honestly do split all costs equally. if not, and the other parent is always the one buying the birthday party gift, the school lunches or whatever, maintenance is appropriate.

If I stop a maintenance claim cause we worked it out amicably, will this go against me? Will I be refused maintenance in the future if needed?

CMS doesn't have to be punitive. If the NRP is happy to pay the amount, set it up as direct pay, costs about £20 I think and that's it. They'll ask for the salary details each year and reassess the amount. It only gets trickier if there is a reluctance to pay and the CMS charge the payer a % to take the payment off them. I don't know about cancelling a claim in terms of future impact but if you opened it due to non payment, I'd not take the payer's word for it if they've suddenly said ok.

Even exes who seem like decent people can become unpleasant regarding money. My ex seems to the outside world like a sensitive person (also loudly declares to everyone he adores his children)…he stopped working full time just so he would then be assessed by CMS at a reduced rate, he accrued thousands in arrears simply by not answering CMS queries so it took months for them to get accurate info from tax office, he discovered CM would be dropped if he had the children a set number of nights (52) so has exactly that and never spends a thing on them whilst with him. Just, be cautious that this “amicable” behaviour may be a front.

My trouble is, if absolutely can’t deal with aggy people. And my anxiety is through the roof! I can’t function. I’m happy to give him the benefit of the doubt, but just wanna know if it will ruin a future claim? Or if I can revert back to the set amid he turns nasty.

• amount not amid

By "Aggy people" do you mean your ex? It's perfectly objective and straightforward. I'd stick with the CMS Claim and just tell him it's an admin task that is easier if it's depersonalised. End of discussion.