What happens when not married parents spilt up to cms or support when one person is extremely wealthy?

[Whatif1]

So obviously the legal protection is not there, property cannot be split etc but if they share 50/50 custody is there any financial support expected from the wealthy partner or anything at all legally?

@Flowerfairie silly question but how does one get a good solicitor.

You can seek legal advice (which will cost you) but as a general rule if you truly have 50/50 custody then you will not be entitled to any child maintenance amount. Although as some posters have suggested you can apply for money if very high earner it is very rarely (if ever) granted if unmarried and true 50/50 purely and simply because it is not the higher earners responsibility to provide for the child when they are not in their care the other 50% of the time, and they have no responsibility at all to provide at all financially for the other parent if they were never married.

It doesn't sound likely that you (or whoever it is) will get much at all. Was the relationship particularly long?

https://family-law.co.uk/child-maintenance-when-unmarried-parents-separate/

This might help with some general info OP but you do need a specialist family law solicitor to make sure you get accurate advice.

11 years.

@feellikeanalien

That's a wonderful link with very clear information thank you.

Do a quick CMS online calc.

144k (12k pcm) income, has dc half the time, one dc, and it said the paying parent should be paying £550 pcm via CMS.

Even though they are 50/50

"the court has demonstrated a wide discretion in this regard" and it refers to a lump sum payment for a car or property.

Again, not accurate if you have 50/50 care. If you read the guidance it's clear on this.

There's a lot to take into account @Whatif1 . How many children have you had with him, does he have other children, are they in private school?

The cms calculator asked for contact time and I selected 50/50. As per my post.

Again, not accurate if you have 50/50 care. If you read the guidance it's clear on this

it is very confusing. CMS will tell you a figure at 50/50 but if that’s challenged via a solicitor it won’t be stuck too as the precedent is £0 at 50/50 UNLESS you can demonstrate a difference in the provision you provide.

It says this:

You will not have anything to pay through the Child Maintenance Service if you are:

sharing care equally with the other parent
a full-time student with no income
in prison

It says before you use it.

A good solicitor? Ask around, friends, colleagues. Look up top family solicitors online and research them. There’s The Legal 500 - and other such directories. Then you speak to them to see if you align.

the calculator is wrong saying you can get maintenance if true 50-50. Some guy in a group I’m in quotes lots of I assume ‘wrong fathers’ winning in court etc. He could also do the calculator for mums income and get some back too if it worked like that. Best bet is not to do 50-50 as it’s never a true share. One parent inevitably buys more uniform or clothes etc. The father will need to be doing 50-50 of school drop off / clubs etc too, don’t make it easy for him if he wants shared care. This is why marriage isn’t just a piece of paper as many say

Yes this.

But to me this sounds as though OP is the “very wealthy partner” checking what he can get away with

Yes this.

But to me this sounds as though OP is the “very wealthy partner” checking what he can get away with

If one person has 4 houses then the probable outcome is one of these (usually the family home) will be given to the other parent to live in with the child.

And why would the person with 4 houses prefer his child to live in a rented “small flat”?! Sounds spiteful. And unlikely as yes, there’s a clause with high value individuals (even unmarried) that their ex partner and children will be housed and maintained in an equal standard to that of the wealthier partner.

Also if the wealthy one is working full time, unlikely they’ll get 50/50 (judges are smart enough to know this is tactic to attempt to reduce maintenance rather than be in the best interest of the child).

These cases can have huge legal fees attached and is best if you can come to an agreement outside court. It’s sad the wealthier partner would put their family through the stress when they have the means to solve it.

They aren't married. So the lower income parent has no claim on the properties owned by the High income parent.

It’s the child with the claim, and this happens often. There is a wide misconception, clearly, especially for those already owning multiple properties, if one of those was a suitable home. Judges’ discretion but this is the way most would go

No.

Only legal protection would have come from marriage.

Again, absolutely incorrect when dealing with those holding those assets

Sounds like he didn’t want to get married to protect his assets. No, you will just get child maintenance. You won’t be able to access his cash. Free ride is over I’m afraid.

OP You need to check if anyone posting here is actually a lawyer (If you've been on MN a while you'll ger a feel for who is a lawyer and who is not).

As you were not married, and the proposed child arrangement is 50/50, then you may indeed end up with nothing.

There are (uncertain) possibilities to try - TOLATA if you owned a property together or an application under the Children's Act - you need to pay for specialist legal advice before launching down either of those routes

It's fanciful to suggest that OP would be given a property. If indeed he owns many, then he might be ordered to permit his DC to live in one during time with OP (probably with OP taking on all bills and a requirement to maintain) until age 18 (or leaving education - and get the time that is meant by leaving made explicit). OP would leave once DC adult - having benefited from mortgage/rent-free period whist DC are growing up.

Seek legal advice re the above, but my question would be - is 50/50 actually likely? Would the child/children want that? Because most of my friends, and friends of friends, are single parents. None of the talk of 50:50 has ever amounted to anything and it’s more like EOW and the odd after school McDonald’s type of thing. It’s overnights that will be a factor in the calculation, not seeing regularly.

My friend’s ex does school pick up, drops them back after dinner, and a weekend day every week. Has to pay the full maintenance amount per cms.