To ask this about child maintenance

[OnlyChangedNameForThis]

Trying to keep this as unemotive as possible and have changed my user name so I can share responses with my ex spouse.

If someone pays child maintenance, is it expected that a chunk of this money be used by the resident parent to pay towards household bills (e.g. gas, electricity, water, rent not covered by housing benefit, food). Or is it OK for it to be spent towards some of these bills and not others?

Not going to say here whether I am the resident or non resident parent as I don't want to affect replies one way or the other

It is money to help with raising of shared children on the additional time they spend with their resident parent. It is completely at the discretion of the receiving parent to how it is spent to support their child

The person who is the one who has to pay the child maintenance has no say in how it is spent by the receiving parent. Child maintenance is usually paid at the government bare minimum required of 15% who would not cover the cost of raising a child. If you have concerns that the child is not being adequately provided for then you would need to raise with social services. An ex partner has no say in how their exes finances are managed.

Totally up to the parent receiving it. It adds to that persons overall household pot, how it is directly spent is nothing to do with the person paying the maintenance. Unless the resident parent is neglectful and spending it all on drugs obviously.

I believe it is to be spent on whatever is needed to support the child.

So that could be household bills to make sure the child has somewhere to live including heating and electricity along with essentials like food and clothes.

Equally it might be needed to pay for childcare / child activities etc

Or any combination of the above

Basically whatever is needed to maintain the child.

Considering the money just goes straight into the bank account of the recipient I would argue it's hard to track exactly what happens to the money thereafter in any case.
It's there to be spent in any way necessary to look after the child, which also includes looking after Mum (or Dad) too.

Entirely at discretion of receiving parent. The only thing I would exclude from that is if paying parent is paying extra for a particular thing eg music lessons. Then that extra amount should be spent on that specific thing.

But generally vast majority of nrp don’t pay their share ime.

It is meant to be towards raising the child, that is expenses that the ex partner wouldn't be incurring if they didn't have a child so in a theoretical scenario where both parties earn equally but one parent has the child all the time, it would be 50% of the cost of raising the child (in the real world we know it's not that simple). So in my theoretical example it would be half the cost of the additional bedroom required as opposed to half the rent.

How in reality the money is spent is down to circumstances, if the resident parent isn't working then child maintenance may be used directly for bills whereas when the resident parent is working and lives with another adult too, it may be the maintenance is increasing their standard of living aka paying for holidays

It's up to the resident parent to spend a they see fit.

The RP can spend it on what ever they like, they don't need to inform the NRP what it's being spent on.

In my personal experience (as a resident parent and as the child of divorced parents) the child maintenance goes into the pot with all other income(s) and is spent on the children one way or another: food, clothing, school trips/expenses, utility bills etc.

I personally would never explain myself to my ex as to what the child support is spent on as I don’t owe him an explanation to my spending and reasons for spending.

It's for the RP to decide.

NRP have to pay child maintenance whether they are on benefits or a billionaire.

The child maintenance payable does not change because the RP is on benefits or a billionaire.

It might be used towards bills or it might be saved. It's up to the RP to decide what to do with it.

It’s none of the non-resident parents business what it’s spent on. It’s the contribution to the cost of raising children (often far below the real cost). And part of that cost is housing and bills. It’s not pocket money to only spend on extras specifically for the child.

Up to the parent, my sister use to use it to pay for her monthly take away 🤷‍♀️

Maintenance I received went into the general household pot until my two sons left to go to university, then they received a third each and the remaining third stayed in the "family pot" to pay the mortgage, bills, phones etc.

It’s up to the person receiving. They can spend it all on gin if they want. But that would be fine because they will spending their other money on mortgage/rent, bills and the other stuff kids need.

child maintenance is awarded for upkeep of the child.
if the recipient decides to spend it on Torres truffle crisps and spliffs that is their perogative . Nothing can be done about that.
Payers of maintenance who try to dictate how and when the money should be spent are in my view control freaks still trying to exert dominance over an ex-partner using money.

The resident parent can spend it on whatever they see fit. Provided the children are fed, warm, clothed and safe it really doesn’t matter what the CM is spent on and is none of the NRP’s business.

Yes, if that's what's needed to support the child, then of course that's how the money should be spent.

Children need to eat, be warm and have a roof over their heads, and the non-resident parent should contribute towards the cost of that. Obviously, if there is money to spare, then you would hope that the resident parent would use it to further enrich the child's life in some way, but the basics have to be taken care of first.

The child maintenance payable does not change because the RP is on benefits or a billionaire.
Er - it does.

Er - it does

It doesn't affect how much you receive if you're on tax credits. Sorry

How does it?
If I were a billionaire my ex would still be liable for maintenance surely?

When CM comes in on the 9th, it replaces the extra I've spent from my wages.
Technically it's all just in the pot. My direct debits go out before the 9th. SSE don't ask who paid for which part of my electric bill- neither should the NRP.

In theory the NRP gets no say so long as child is looked after and needs are being met. There was that thread recently where the NRP was expecting the RP pays for the child's activities out of CM. In this case the RP received probably double what many parents gets paid (from figures I read on here) and in that case I do think it's reasonable that the NRP suggests and expects that the child's activities are funded by the money they pay.

CM would usually for most go into the family pot so it is difficult to say what is spent where.

There are no rules, maintenance money goes into the household pot to be spent however the receiver wishes.

Morally, it’s fine for the maintenance to contribute towards household bills, but that shouldn’t be it’s primary function because a resident parent has a responsibility to provide those things too. Child maintenance is about the children, so it should be available for things they directly need like food, clothing, or school costs.

Of course it has to go towards bills, car etc. It just goes in the household budget.