Deducting mortgage payment from child maintenence?

[sallysm]

Does anyone have any experience whereby, the amount of CM they receive, is reduced because your Ex is paying the mortgage on your behalf?

For example, suppose after divorce, I get the home, including all equity within it and for the future. (ie, He no longer has a stake in the home)

Then factor in that I cannot for a very long time afford to take over the mortgage, but I am told that through universal credit, child maintenance and if I get myself a little job, I will be able to afford to reimburse my Ex, for the mortgage contributions he is liable to make to the bank.

However, for whatever reason, I don't reimburse him for those payments he makes. So he starts deducting the mortgage cost from what he pays as child maintenance (if not via the CMS service) or (if through the CMS service) he applies to vary the CMS amount, stating that he is paying the mortgage on my behalf, ontop of child maintenance. And that because he thinks I should be reimbursing him the monthly mortgage cost, and that he has no equity to gain from the house, then he has a right to deduct the mortgage cost from the CM amount.

Does anyone have any similar experience in how such a scenario might be treated?

I understand on the CM website, it says:

If you are a paying parent you can ask for certain expenses, which reduce your gross income, to be taken into account. These are called 'special expenses' and are for making payments on a mortgage for the home you and the receiving parent used to share – the receiving parent and the child or children must still live in the home and you must have no legal or ‘equitable’ interest in it

You don’t appear to be listening
If you can’t take on the mortgage ( based on his earnings) the house will likely be ordered to be sold. If you are successful in a mesher you’ll be expected to pay the mortgage not him.
You need a solicitor as you don’t appear to want to accept things

I'm afraid you aren't listening to what anyone is telling you. And your steps 1 - 8 are based in total fantasy land.

If you can't take on the mortgage on your own - the likelihood is that the court will order you to sell the house (now, not when the kids are 18). You BOTH need to be able to adequately house your children, which will mean that he needs to get a mortgage too.

If by some miracle, you get a mesher order that says you can stay in the house until they are 18, you will be expected to get a job and pay for your lifestyle. Not a little part time job to top up. You will be expected to maximise your earnings and support yourself.

He will have a chunk of equity when the house is sold (starts at 50% but you may be able to negotiate more).

Child maintenance is usually separate but he may be able to get a deduction variation if he is paying the mortgage. So you may end up getting little or nothing.

However - the most likely scenario here if you can't take on the mortgage yourself is that the house is sold so you can split the equity and use it to house yourselves separately.

Even if you privately agreed a scenario where he pays the whole mortgage but has no equity - a court won't agree it because the division of assets needs to be fair.

Book a free hour with a lawyer. I think your concerns that they will string you along promising you what you want are unfounded and any decent lawyer will tell you that you need to cut your cloth, you are expected to work, and you need your own mortgage.

Wow your steps are in fantasy land. There is no way a judge will order a your ex who earns £40k to pay the mortgage on the house.
You’ve asked this question a couple of times before, although it was couched as spousal maintenance, and you received the same answers including to see a solicitor but that it would be highly unlikely to receive any spousal maintenance.
You need to speak with a solicitor about it as unless he agrees to provide this (I doubt it as he needs money to be able to live) this is the only way you may stand a chance of getting it.
But frankly you’ve been asking the same question again and again and asked for people’s experiences. Lots of people have told you someone earning £40k would not be made to pay CM and extra for you.
Frankly you need to learn to support yourself and your child going forward.

@sallysm

Look, I don't want to annoy about this. And I have read all your posts, sorry if I can't reply to them all.

The reason I haven't sought legal advice, is that first, I wanted to hear from people who had actual experience with court decisions and CMS, rather than asking a solicitor who charges alot, and may well string me along telling me what I want to hear, up until the point of getting something very different at the end by a court.

So from what I understand, having read all your posts carefully, is that things would go something like this - please correct me where I'm wrong.

1. Me and the stbx (or the court) decide on some share of assets (home, savings, pension)
2. I stay in the house until our young child is 18+. Then house gets sold, depending on if he's ordered to get any equity from it.

then:

1. I apply for CM through CMS.
2. CMS asks for his gross, and he starts paying me a fixed % of it
3. I get by, on CM, apply for UC, and if I can find one, get a little job to top myself up.
4. I (if ordered by the court) reimburse him each month for the mortgage cost that he pays on my behalf to the bank (as I'm unable to take over the mortgage. He remains the sole person liable)
5. He then applies for a mortgage of his own. The bank says sorry, we don't count the mortgage reimbursements from your Ex as income, as such because you're paying full CM and have an existing mortgage, you can't borrow enough on a new mortgage to get your own place. (Not my problem if banks think like that)

OR is it that at point 4, CMS also ask if he's paying the mortgage for me, and if so, they deduct his payments from his gross, and tell him to pay less CMS. At which point (7), he goes to the bank to apply for his own mortgage, says he's paying an existing mortgage but reduced CM, and they say ok, you can borrow more to get a place for yourself.

Baring in mind I found this on the CMS website:
'If you are a paying parent you can ask for certain expenses, which reduce your gross income, to be taken into account. These are called 'special expenses' and are for making payments on a mortgage for the home you and the receiving parent used to share – the receiving parent and the child or children must still live in the home and you must have no legal or ‘equitable’ interest in it' (note: no 'equitable' interest!)

If anyone can correct me on anything wrong with steps 1 to 7 I'd appreciate it.

Steps 1 and 3 will happen. None of the rest of it. It’s not going to be ordered that you and a preschool child stay in the house til the child is 18 (I did laugh at the plus sign you put after 18) and your ex has to pay the mortgage. It just won’t. You’ll have to live somewhere you can afford and the bulk of that affordability will need to come from earnings from work, just like your ex’s does.

Wow, just read your other thread. I didn’t think it was possible to sound even more entitled. Back in the real world, people don’t expect other people to carry them for the rest of their lives and actually do things to support themselves.

OP, gently, you won't be getting a little job. You need to get a full time job and support your kids. He doesn't owe you anything except half the assets and CM.

OP what's the 'little job' ide

I'm a single parent and have worked full time since my son was 8 months old. I pay my own mortgage and bills with my salary, not
Universal credit. Is there a reason you can't get a decent job?

I also think it is very unlikely you will get to stay in the house until the child is 18.

@MiddleParking has it spot on. Steps 1 and 3 are correct. That's about it.

I'm not sure what he has done to make you feel so bitter about the situation but try and think about how you will stand on your own two feet rather than expecting him to foot the bill for your life for the next 15 years or whatever. He has as much right to move on with his life as you do.

What the hell am I reading.

Barking mad.

Work out how much equity is in your house. Split the figure in half. Give that amount to your ex and take on paying the mortgage and supporting your child with a token amount of CM that your ex may or may not pay each month.

That is the reality for most people. Can't pay the mortgage or support your child?

Sell the house. Get half of what is left once mortgage is paid. Take that sum, try and rent somewhere and apply for benefit. Receive token amount of CM that your ex may or may not pay each month.

Genuinely this is probably your choice based on the info you have provided. The sooner you realise this, the sooner you can begin some actual realistic plans for the future.

The courts will not leave your ex with nothing. My friends was ordered to either give half the equity in the house to her ex and she keeps it, or it got sold. The judge made it extremely clear he would be able to buy again.
Get a job. Your ex chose to leave you, he will not be expected to finance you completely, outside of regular child maintenance.

Most of your assumptions are incorrect.

1. Your ex only has to pay you CMS. He pays all expenses when kids are with him on top of this.

1. He's unlikely to be ordered to pay your mortgage.

1. You probably have to sell the house and split the equity. As you earn less it will probably be in your favour. The most I've heard on here is 80/20 but 60/40 is more common.

1. You can ask for more house equity in exchange for a smaller percentage of his pension.

1. If you stay in the house you need to pay him his share of the equity or you have to pay the mortgage and give him a share of the equity when youngest is 18. He wouldn't be paying the mortgage from now but is delaying his payout so the equity created by your mortgage payments is his reward iyswim

1. You need to find accommodation in line with the housing benefit allowances. If you look up your area then you can find out what you'd be entitled to so you can get an idea about what budget you have.

1. You can't claim most benefits if you have savings of £16k or more. You'd be expected to go below that number before you're eligible

Finally

Divorce in the UK is no-fault. It doesn't matter why the marriage broke down or who did what. Your ex isn't punished for leaving and a court would say that it's unreasonable for him not to be able to get a mortgage because he's on your home.

Ok. I'd like to thank you all for your responses. I have read them all, and am listening, and appreciate the time you've taken to write. There seems to be a common message across the replies and people's experiences and expectations seem to be similar. Hmm.

A noticed also a few of you have mentioned one particular point that got me thinking today, but I'll raise it in a separate thread as its quite specific.

Wow! What have I just read!

The sens of entitlement is astonishing!

Word of advice OP

1. Get a job
2. Stand on your own two feet
3. Cut the apron strings from your poor stbx
4. Show your DCs that mummy can be independent
5. And above all else - grow up!

This sounds similar to my brother and his ex wife. Married 5 years, he earned approx 40k exw didn’t work, one dc aged 4. House worth 250k mortgage of 170k. Exw wanted to stay in the house and for dB to pay the mortgage and Cm.

Solicitor basically told her if she wanted to stay in the house until dc was 18 she needed to get a job and be able to cover the outgoings and that dB would not be required to pay the mortgage only Cm. If she couldn’t do this then the house would be sold.

She did get a job and did get a meaner order and dB pays £300 CMs. He had to stay on the mortgage but doesn’t pay it and was awarded 40% of the equity once the property is sold.

The mesher prosper will come with trigger clauses though. The last one being when the dc turns 18, but usually also if the ex cohabits or remarries.

My dB exw started cohabiting with a new partner a couple of years post divorce and my dB was them entitled to his share. She ended up selling the formal martial home and bought somewhere else with new partner.

As pp have said, there is no way on 40k your ex will have to support you.

Thanks @Twobigsapphires, I guess that's a prospect I might have to expect, after reading your brother's experience. Hmm. Though on 40k he should have been paying 378 CM, unless he had DC over nights.

@sallysm

Thanks *@Twobigsapphires*, I guess that's a prospect I might have to expect, after reading your brother's experience. Hmm. Though on 40k he should have been paying 378 CM, unless he had DC over nights.

It would be exceptionally unusual for a parent to be awarded no overnight stays OP unless you are talking about a baby. Even toddlers get every other weekend and another night to build and maintain relationships with their parents. What is your husband planning on with regards to contact with your child?

Op please understaNd in real terms it doesn’t work like this.
Please would you be able to find a job that pays enough.
Prepare yourself that it’s not likely that what you desire will happen .