Splitting Child Costs

[TroddenP]

Morning all,

My ex and I have 2 children and have recently separated (not yet divorced). We split the children's time between us 50/50 and neither of us pay maintenance. We want to split all costs for things like uniform, school trips, nursery fees, after school clubs etc equally and would like to have some form of 'account' where we can each pay a set amount into each month and then use to pay these costs.

I would rather be completely financially separated from the other parent and so ideally would prefer this not to be a joint bank account and wonder if anyone is able to suggest something that would work. We would prefer it not to be an account in just one parents name either if possible.

Does anyone know if such a mythical thing exists? I've tried google but haven't managed to find what I'm looking for.

Thanks you

Revolt card,?

Unless you want to have a joint account it's going to be in one person's name. Personally I wouldn't have a joint account without someone I was significantly committed to relationship wise as their finances can impact yours negatively and you'd never know until it's too late.

I split everything 50/50 with my DD's father (we're not together). it worked best with one of us taking the lead and the other paying the money to them. Essentially I would send him a "bill" (I didn't prepare invoices or anything formal!) and he'd pay the money to me. Or we'd work out what costs were approximately equal and take responsibility for one each, eg uniform for new school year was just about equal to one term's fees for her main activity. Shoes we take turns. If there is an unexpected cost - for instance hobby equipment needed quickly - whomever has her that weekend will sort it out and we don't quibble or bill each other because it will work out in the long run.

The success of it relies on a bit of trust and agreement as to how it will work. Firstly that regardless of what the other earns, the agreement stays the same - the details of each other's finances are none of your respective businesses. There needs to be no pettiness, no examining the details down to the penny etc, agreement as to what activities etc you're both willing to fund (not fair to commit someone else to a cost without their consent). Ground rules are important.

You could both have your own Revolut account and then set up a shared Vault that each of you can pay into and access. You can just use it for childcare expenses.

You could use an app like Splitwise to log all child related expenses. It lets you keep track of who has paid for what and who owes who and then you could settle up on a regular basis e.g. end of each month.

Yes I echo previous poster to suggest Splitwise. It means you pay for some things, they pay for others and then you settle what is not netted off at regular intervals. This would work well for an arrangement like this