Child Benefit Rival Claim Ex Partner Earning Loads!!!!!

[ProlongedAffair]

Me and my ex share 50/50 of our two children, it’s not court ordered but has been in place for the past few years. A few months ago I put in a claim for CMS and was awarded it, they see me as the primary carer because I get both children’s child benefits. I also discovered my ex is earning a 6 figure salary.

Last week I got a letter from child benefit saying that he is challenging my claim. I said to the lady that he earns too much to claim and I suspect he’s only claiming so he can try to get out of CMS. She told me that because he has the children for half the time and child benefit isn’t means tested, the likelihood is they will award child benefit one each! Surely that can’t be correct, can anyone advise who has been through their rival claims process?? He will then be able to claim CMS from me!!

And here we are with what he can now claim from her. £55 a week.

So she gets £25 a week child maintenance now. As opposed to the hundreds a month she got before. And about a grand a year in child benefit.

It's the petty Betty in me, but fuck I love it when greediness results in an epic own goal

Assuming this is real, being polite there is some cognitive issues here.
Less charitable may use moron.

@LePetitMaman

But the CMS calculator doesn't have an 'exactly 50:50' option.

Q: What happens if the day-to-day care of a child is equal between a paying parent and a receiving parent?
A: In this situation, the paying parent does not have to pay any child maintenance for that child.

From here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-maintenance-how-a-childs-living-arrangements-can-affect-payments-factsheet/how-your-childs-living-arrangements-affect-child-maintenance

Are you missing the bit in the calculator that specifically says "half the time?"

I mean you're literally just reinforcing what I said earlier:

The CMS website is notoriously shite.

It simultaneously states that 50/50 care means zero maintenance for either party, but actually, if you enter in 50/50 care, it comes up with an award, and that award is valid.

Try it.

Definitely something not quite right here. Looks like the lift doesn’t go all the way up to the top floor. 😳

No, but on the calculator it's still a band - 175 to 182 days, or 48-50% of the time.

I assumed that's why it still gives a possible payment figure.

But thinking again I guess it's to allow for full week scenarios where one parent might have the child(ren) for an extra week due to how the year falls.

You could opt out of payments and still get the NI contribution til the kids are 12 and it would save you doing a tax return

It wouldn’t, we do them anyway.

It wouldn’t, we do them anyway.

Why did you think this when literally hundreds of posts told you that wasn't the case? I am sorry that you're in this mess but do you see now this was entirely your doing and exactly what everyone said would happen?

Half the time does not necessarily mean 50:50 care. A parent could have the child half the overnights, but the other parent could pay for all uniform and extra-curriculars, do all the school admin, and organise all medical appointments. That's not the case here, it is a genuine 50:50 arrangement.

Go and put 50/50 into the website.

I speak from first hand experience.

And I speak from first hand experience of working for CMS.

The calculator assumes not a true 50:50 (hence the range of nights) hence giving a figure, as I said

And the pertinent point is that the OP was told, by many many people, about the fact the calculator giving an amount didn't mean she was entitled to that amount in a genuine 50/50 before she decided to be greedy and upset the apple cart in a generous and seemingly working well co-parent agreement.

Instead of heeding that advice, or even speaking to CMS they barrelled into an application.

Very fine of example of play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

I feel kinda bad for the OP. Everyone here is gloating but yet noone ever thought to warn her this could be the outcome.

😉🤣

OP are you actually dependent on the £200 you were getting from him and the two child benefits, or will you not really miss it?

Because I still maintain I do more admin than he does and my name is on more documentation like the GP and dentist.

Your taking no responsibility - you started this.

Because I still maintain I do more admin than he does and my name is on more documentation like the GP and dentist.

And you were repeatedly told that admin is not a factor CB consider highly in the way you expected.

You really need to take some responsibility here.

You were told by many, many people how the system worked. You chose to cherry pick answers to believe that suited what you wanted and closed your hears to anything else.

You were utterly unrealistic, and now you are still refusing to take any responsibility for the fact you have destroyed a co-parenting set up that many people would give their right arm for, and you've now put your teenagers in the position of having parents who cannot communicate. All for the greed of more money than you were entitled to for a short amount of time (given they are teens).

Why do you think more admin makes you primary carer?

As for GP under your name, I imagine that was done when they were tiny and you were on maternity. It's usually mum who would do this.

The last period you gave figures about said he had one night more than you. That time they were at their dad's was surely more time than either of spent on admin in the 3 month period. In terms of actual time looking after the kids it is 50:50 or slightly more him.

I genuinely don't understand why if you've roughly equal physical time with the kids, you were getting all the child benefits plus his £300 & he was covering private medical and dental (which he will do admin for) and their phones you would think signing some school letters made you above himself primary carer just enough to be allowed more money

Well presumably not the private dentist and private medical cover that he pays for. Presumably his name is on that? Or does he just pay for it but you actually do it (eg you would deal with the private medical cover if required?)

Fuck around and find out. I have zero sympathy for you.

You still can't grasp that no one cares if you write one more form a month. Or call the non private doctor, whilst he calls the private one.

What you do "extra" is so minimal, it's ignored. And no one cares that you maintain otherwise. Declaring yourself as more of a parent is only a thing in your little bubble. You can do that all you like. What you need to understand is that the rest of the real world (where it matters) maintain your self-declarations are meaningless.

Even if the admin mattered (it doesn’t) surely you would agree that if overnights are 50/50 and admin is 55/45 or 60/40, a fairer distribution of child benefit is one each ie 50/50 rather than two for one parent ie 100/0 - given that CB can’t be divided, just allocated.

To rebut some of the assumptions in here:

1. they have private medical and dentistry which he does pay for and organise, but they never used it, it’s always been NHS. Yes he will take them to appointments but I organise them as I’m on the children’s records.
2. I fill in trip and consent forms for schools more than him. He does pay half but I mostly fill them in.
3. How can it be in the children’s best interests to remove CB from the parent who can actually get the award? He’s now got one award but no money and is using that to disprove my CMS claim.
4. he has had more overnights, granted, but that will probably level itself out over the year given there’s an odd number of days in a year.

Plus the CMS did order him to pay money on 50/50. He is trying to dispute it is equal care and he shouldn’t be paying anything, which I disagree, I don’t think it is equal care and maintain I do more.