Minute of agreement for child contact

[ProseccoThyme]

In the final stages of separation & have agreed a pattern of 1 night a week, EOW & 50% of school holidays.

On the CMS website, this equates as 2-3 nights a week & gives me about £500 a month.

However ex thinks this is 50/50 (he has no clue what this involves and has been a hands-off parent)

I'm worried if I enter an agreement saying 50-50 it will come back to bite me.

Can the legal agreement be explicit enough to differentiate between the two?

How much detail do others have in their agreements?

Any info appreciated

It’s not 50/50 so don’t agree to that. Just give CMS a call and they will work it all out for you, send him a letter with a payment and date of first payment.

Do not enter into any discussions about it, because you’ll end up arguing with each other. Just leave it to CMS to sort out, that’s what they’re there for.

Don’t go into minute details. You’ve sorted out the times etc, that is enough.

Ok, thanks for that - I'll put it to the CSA now as it may take a while.

I phoned CMS yesterday & they were absolutely brilliant.

I could make a minute of agreement with him for the financial side of the settlement only & a go through CMS separately for maintenance.

But Unfortunately I need to have a Minute of Agreement with the contact pattern & maintenance paid in order to get a decent mortgage.

I will not sign this unless it specifies the amount of contact time accurately.

Then I can go to CMS in a year & have it done through them.

I really don't want to be reliant on him for maintenance, but he won't sell the house to give me a fair share of equity. He won't allow me to relocate with the children, so unfortunately this is the price he will have to pay.

And I've lived with this c*nt for 15m since finding out about his previous affair. He's a nasty narcissistic bastard who has made my life hell.