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!!

I was the same at first but now I think there’s something seriously not right here. Something really quite unpleasant actually. This is clearly solely about OP using her kids to get more money for herself and very little about the childrens interests.

Yes he was paying me £1000 but then reduced it to a few hundred when it went to 50/50.

Never underestimate the amount of people willing to delude themselves. I’ve heard people telling their solicitors that they don’t know what they’re talking about, that someone who heard from someone who heard from someone said they would definitely be entitled to X, Y and Z and that it must be true.

As in OP’s case, the clown invariably comes back to bite 🤡

I’m not entirely convinced the clown went anywhere to come back from in the first place .

Well that explains why you are so grabby now you lost your lifestyle funding.

So he’s done, as he’s doing now, everything correctly then.

Well done OP, in trying to get more money from a man that was willingly paying maintenance when he didn’t need to, you’ve managed to destroy an amicable coparenting relationship only to end up with less.

You aren’t actually the primary carer though, you have the kids 50/50.

Ok - so what happened in the past was covered by payments in the past.

The court will look at the present situation anyway, but I thought perhaps you keep mentioning the past situation because he had previously not paid when he should, or similar.

But he did pay! The past of non-50/50 was dealt with at the time!

They will (and should) look at current, or recent past information - such as CB did in the last 3 months. The claim relates to the period since you put it in and would be amended if the pattern shifted significantly in future. The fact you may have done 10/14 care 3 or more years ago is not relevant to the claim you have put in now.

I imagine he’s now taking it to court to establish via order that care is shared 50/50. It’s procedural, and he will get it. He’s acting to stop you from trying to pull this again. He’s not engaging with you because he doesn’t need to, and has likely been advised not to.

You were repeatedly warned before you even started down this road. Despite this, you ploughed ahead anyway, and it’s not something you can take back now because you lost your gamble.

I can’t believe that OP is still not accepting that she fucked up by putting in a CM claim when it’s 50/50 care and that she’s not primary parent.

How about you forget all about the strenuous admin you apparently do for your dc..
I would do an extensive calculation referencing the number of machine loads you do for their laundry... that will swing it... I am sure!

You have screwed yourself with your crazy attitude.. if I was your ex I would be going for full custody to get my dc away from you entirely.
Batshit.

Did you think the £1000 would continue on 50/50?!

I still can’t understand your basic rationale for asking for more money in the first place. Although DH’s ex also seems to find it to understand that her money is finishing soon either. She seems to think that because DH has lots, and she doesn’t, he should have to give her some.

He’s very reasonable to take this to court so OP can’t blindside him with this sort of thing in future. Stuff like this is time consuming, annoying and frustrating and it he comes after OP for overpayments then I wouldn’t blame him.

Such money grabbing. Absolutely bamboozling. Basically using your children as an ATM

Why on earth would they care about "historical information?"

ETA: even if they did, he was paying $1000/month, which is likely more than he would have been ordered to pay. So what would they even do about it if they did consider it?

It does seem that the CMS acted quickly in this case and froze payments, so it doesn’t seem like getting the award meant she benefited at all. In the event that she did it would absolutely be reasonable of him to recoup any overpayments.

If he really wanted to be petty he could encourage the teenage children to be with him for a greater majority of the time, take both lots of child benefit, and claim child maintenance from OP. He’s not. He’s acting only to protect himself, which is entirely fair.

There was presumably a time where she was receiving CB for 2 kids but her ex didn’t put in a claim because he felt that the CM was fair so happy to overlook the CB he could have claimed to decrease the CM liability.

If OP hadn’t asked for a reconsideration then she’d probably have the CB for 2 and the £300 CM payment.

Yep…

It does seem that the CMS acted quickly in this case and froze payments, so it doesn’t seem like getting the award meant she benefited at all. In the event that she did it would absolutely be reasonable of him to recoup any overpayments.

She has benefitted the entire time they had 50/50 but she was getting both CB amounts and voluntary maintenance from him.

£35ish a week for 2 x CB and £300 maintenance is a fair chunk she's benefitted from

Yep, but that was a voluntary contribution on his part, outside of the CMS and not due to error on their part.

No the historically info doesn't matter because any CMS award isn't retrospect.

Think about it this way, historically when you had them more he had less money too. You'd be unimpressed if they looked at his historic income (when he earned less a few years ago) not his current income.

Also courts think about how far back is it reasonable for people to have evidence to support positions.

A couple of forms and ringing the dentist is nowt!! Think about it previously he was paying you more and letting you have the child benefit so actually it massively covered and more than the little bit of extra admin you did so whilst you were 50/50 and he paid more and you got the CB why on earth did you think you deserved even more?

Can we not forget OP that your initial thread when you learned he earned 100k stated that you felt that increased child maintenance could be used to increase your savings or to pay for better holidays. You do not NEED more money to care for your children. You WANT more money because you're annoyed at his income.

And to address, for the millionth time, your assertion that the fact CMS let you put in a claim for maintenance...

CMS has No investigator arm. It believes the person making the claim regardless of the truth of what they say. You put in a claim saying you were primary parent. The system says ok a primary parent gets X. It did not make a value judgment on your assertion.

A court will make a value judgement. You WILL lose.

When a judge tells you you've behaved appallingly will you accept it from them?

Can you not now just say to him you've got this wrong and try to rebuild something for the sake of your kids?

@ProlongedAffair has your ex actually been paying the amount order by CMS?