CMS (child maintenance) claim when 50:50 custody

[SerialThriller]

Hoping someone can help

If custody is split 50:50 between two parents, can one parent claim via the child maintenance service?

Does parents income get factored into a decision of accepting a claim? I know it's a % of salary but I mean decision to actually pay it, rather than the calculation per se

Thanks

No, in cases of 50:50, no maintenenace is payable

Officially if it’s 50/50, nothing is due however there has recently been a tribunal and the CMS will now take into account day time care as well as nights.

Not sure what your second question means - “accepting a claim”, “decision to pay it”?

Thanks - I mean whether the actual claim is means tested / based rather than the calculation. Sorry can't think straight at the moment and can't explain it any clearer

From what I've read a claim won't succeed if the care is 50:50 but I've had a letter from CMS demanding money nevertheless

Anyone who's successfully appealed?

Thanks again

Do you have proof the care is 50:50? If there is a dispute between the parents, the CMS will ask for a court order that proves it’s 50:50.

If you’re on a low income (I think up to £100pw), you may be put on their flat rate (£7pw) rather than their basic rate. The online calculator will tell you.

Any income difference between the parents doesn't matter for child maintenance -- though that could for (rare) spousal maintenance.

To get a zero assessment there needs to be essentially two caring parents and not one defined as a non-resident parent (NRP). 50/50 care can still result in a CM liability if one a parent still appears to be an NRP compared to the other.

Thanks. I don't know how to prove neither of us is really non resident parent as we have no court order. I do all of the admin related to my son - little stuff like organise (and pay) school uniform, trips to get his hair cut etc but it just seems so unfair he can claim from me when we do equal caring

Does he claim the child benefit? How many children are there?

He does yes due to his low income

There is one child

What about address on file with school, doctor, dentist etc. Is that yours or his?

All mine

When I looked into child maintenance, it was based on how many nights with each parent over the course of a year. So 180+ with one rather than the other would lead to a (small) amount of maintenance being paid. There's an online calculator you can check.

(Although pp says daytimes may now/soon be taken into account now so how this works might change a bit).

So if you have records of when LO is with you/him you should be able to work it out. I use an excel file to record the schedule and any changes eg swapped nights/weekends and holidays...

I find it useful to have these records -- for example, ex thinks he's doing 50:50 but actually by the time he's away with work and has holidays without LO, over the year it's more like 60:40 or 70:30...

(Sorry should have said less than 180 with one rather than the other, not 180+)

The online calculator doesn’t work for 50:50 situations.

I'm really surprised by this.
So if parents really actually do 50:50 care, the ex spouse that earns 100k does not have to pay any child maintenance to the ex spouse on NMW?

That’s right.

Just like if an RP is earning £1Million and the NRP is on benefits, the NRP still has to pay.

Thanks Melody1234 and MissMalice both helpful

I've made a list of the things I do that he doesn't and whilst it's in no way equal (I do almost all of the things like dentist, school uniform, trips, sorting special care needed at school, organising parents evening, organising birthday parties etc etc) but won't be claiming via CMS from his Dad as he is on a lower income than me so doesn't seem fair. He on the other hand.....claiming from me like the cocklodger he was when we were together

My appeal to CMS is drafted

My ex earns £100k+ a year. Last year I earned £18K. As care is exactly 50:50 (not through my choice but courts) he doesn't have to pay me a penny for our two children. He lives in a huge exec five-bed, we have been renting a small two-bed for five years in May. The whole thing is wrong!

Just like if an RP is earning £1Million and the NRP is on benefits, the NRP still has to pay

True, but NRP may have a spousal maintenance entitlement if there is such a large difference in earnings?

However, I am not in agreement with no Child Maintenance being payable if care is 50:50 if one parent earns substantially more than the other.

Dd and her ex are on a 50:50 two weeks on, two weeks off schedule. No maintenance for either one of them but her ex does pays all the school fees himself.

I think the argument is that the child is entitled to a similar lifestyle in both houses.

My exh pays me cm and we have 50/50 residency. I'm disabled with a limited capacity to work (16 hrs p/w) and unfortunately have to rely on UC to top up my earnings. Ex earns 10 × what I do so pays some maintenance so the dc have a decent quality of life in both homes. It means I don't have to use the food bank and I can heat the house etc. We decided this between ourselves and have not used CMS at all, and I don't think I would be legally able to claim against exh through the CMS.

I agree. The overriding reason my ex husband wanted 50:50 shared custody was so he didn't have to part with a penny of "his" money. Reality is we are still in a damp rented two-bed while he lives the life of luxury with his unemployed gf 😡

Reality is we are still in a damp rented two-bed while he lives the life of luxury with his unemployed gf 😡

That's why I think no child maintenance being payable is wrong if shared care is 50:50 when one parent earns massively more than the other.

Lets say NRP earns £100K (almost £5,000 net in hand per month) and has 1 child every weekend (2 nights per week). Child Maintenance would be £140/week.

A big help for someone who is on £18K per year (£1,300 net in hand per month). NRP would still have about £4,400 in hand per month which is more than double that of the RP even after paying the Child Maintenance.

If that's considered fair then Law needs to be reviewed.

Couldn't agree more! When I first left my youngest was only three and I was only working three hours a week as a teacher as I was always the primary carer. Managed to get this up to 18 hours quickly luckily, and then more recently up to 30 when youngest at school (very luckily my parents moved to next village so could help out with school runs for both boys).
In the early days I relied from furniture donations from the church and I simply went without much food and heating at all in the weeks the kids were with their dad. We shared a second-hand double bed all three of us for six months until I could afford bunks. At the same time my ex was spending hundreds on "entertainment" for his business colleagues and shopping at Waitrose every week.
He still has this lifestyle, although now he has a much younger gf who has never worked a day in her life "because she doesn't need to". I try to stay positive but do have very dark days when I am scrubbing mould from the dining room wall and bedroom windows for the hundredth time or vacuuming up the plaster where the damp gets in. My eldest son is 11 now and it breaks my heart I can't give him a room of his own/any sort of study space now he is in secondary.
I did get some sort of settlement finally upon divorce but because my ex lied on his Form E (Finance Director), it was nowhere near enough to buy anything even remotely suitable. Didn't get spousal maintenence etc. He still has all former marital chattels and furniture (the thing that hurts me the most is that I have no baby photos at all).
It is a joke and while it is the case that 50:50 custody equals zero pounds and zero pence, there will always be the risk that this sort of custody will be applied for predominantly for financial control rather than best interests of child/children. It will also mean people with such huge differences in income will think twice about leaving abusive marriages (if I'm brutally honest, at times I do wonder if it was "worth" leaving him for how much damage he has done since). Ex controlled me in my marriage (once he took away my card so I couldn't buy anything for example and told me just to drink water, he used to wake me up in tbe early hours demanding I clean the oven). Truth is, he still gets to control, just now remotely.
CMS know my situation but say there is nothing payable. As do courts.