soon to be separated, what should or should not be included in childmaintenance?

[ScandiCinnamon]

Hello all.

I am trying to work out (at the request of my stbx OH) how much it costs to 'run' our DD's. They are both in Primary School. Should his share of after school childcare be part of his maintenance payment for the children? Or is child maintenance to be only towards, food, clothing and other essentials. Also, how about after school activities? Again should this be part of the child maintenance? Any advice much appreciated. I do have a solicitors appointment in a few weeks, but would like to get an understanding before. Thanks

There are no set rules. If you follow the statutory system it's just down to income and overnight stays and numbers of kids. If you sort it out yourself, you make up your own rules.

Ex-husband pays statutory child maintenance (he rounded it up and hasn't made deductions for his girlfriend's kids moving in so it's a little more than the minimum), 4/10ths of the childcare costs (based on the split we have, he needs 40% of the sessions) plus he pays half of costly school trips, buys roughly half the uniform and some other clothing. Only the childcare was in our financial agreement.

You can look at this website and work out the statutory minimum here

Bear in mind that is the bare minimum

In terms of how much it ‘costs’ to raise two children, that is quite an abstract concept really - besides the obvious things like housing, feeding, clothing, childcare, there is a cost involved to the primary carer in terms of lost earnings, lack of career progression, gap in employment, diminished future prospects, diminished current prospects (eg having to have a job which fits with school/wraparound care, needing to stay local in case a child is taken ill at school). Obviously only the very rich get settlements that take this stuff into account. But it’s worth thinking about. Do get legal advice if you haven’t already, men who wants precise breakdowns of the cost of raising dc as if they can’t believe it’s that big of a deal are usually the sort to be petty and resentful about paying their fair share. Good luck

Any award for child maintenance by a court can only hold for 12 months. Then it reverts to the CMS which as others have said is % of the paying parent's income and only looks at the number of nights they have the children and any other children living in their house (so. If they move in with someone who has kids, disgracefully those kids can reduce the amount he pays for his own). You need to look at how the capital assets will be split and this will also depend on how the childcare is being split. If they are only to be with him EOW then you might get something like 70% of assets but every case is different.

In terms of maintenance the CMS is supposed to be a contribution towards costs and childcare would be included in that but it's often such a high cost that decent NRPS will contribute more for that so the RP can work. A lot depends on how amicable you and your ex can manage and please don't take anything on trust. Far too many make all sorts of promises only to renege when reality hits. Good luck.

Reneging seems to be all part of being the NRP!

Use the CMS to find the minimum payment then each parent pays childcare for their day. So if your ex has Saturday/Sunday/Monday (and you both work Monday to Friday) then he pays nursery on Monday and you pay nursery on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday. He pays 20% of the bill (after childcare component of Tax Credits deducted) and you pay 80% of the bill (after childcare component of Child Tax Credits deducted)
Child maintenance (and child benefit) would be for the other stuff like uniform, shoes, clothing.

I would offer a list of child related costs to your ex and see what his attitude towards the total is. He might be asking for costs because he thinks that CMS minimum is a lot and he wants you to say that the kids cost less than that so he can pay less or it could be that he accepts that the CMS minimum is insufficient and wants to pay a more realistic figure.

Thanks all :-)