child maintenance top up orders

[millymog11]

Confidentiality disclosure. I am using a relatives MN account for this post. I am seeking information / guidance on process/court process

Can anyone help me / steer me with next steps about whether i should try to pursue this? My ex husband has always ever since he left paid the maximum child maintenance calculated and paid via CMS, it only dipped when he had a child with his new wife. Since then he has been promoted several times and now earns more than 3 times what i earn and in excess of £160K per annum.
I get the top capped sum via CMS which is £1,340 for two teenagers per month. The letters from CMS are saying is annual gross before tax is about £179K PA. (I do not get spousal maintenance and the divorce was on a clean break basis. I work full time, I think his new wife works part time but not sure) I have the children living with me 90% of the time.

I found this website which gave brief details of how to apply for a top up sum on child maintenance. Would this be worth pursuing and if yes, how do I go about this? Obviously I very highly doubt i would be eligible for legal aid and i dont have spare budget for solicitors advice although i understand if that is the response (get legal advice etc). Thanks in advance

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https://www.familylawpartners.co.uk/blog/top-up-orders-for-child-maintenance

How can the Court help?The Courts actually have very limited powers in respect of child maintenance payments as the authority to deal with these matters now primarily lies with the CMS.
However, where the income of the non-resident parent exceeds the maximum income that will be considered by the CMS calculation, it might be possible to apply to the Court for a top-up order under section 8(6) of the Child Support Act 1991.

It’s likely that you’ll be embarking on a route which causes fights, animosity and more problems than the £ you’ll actually see

if you pursue it’s likely he could increase his pension’s contributions to avoid it ( perfectly legal) and could make life more difficult

how much is he assessed on now? What’s the incremental salary you believe, what would that equate to per month extra? Not much I’d hazard a guess

whether his wife works part time/full time or not at all is not relevant
if they have a child he’s allowed to reduce his cms

not commenting whether I agree or not but I think you’ll spend a lot to not get much back personally

thanks MillyMolly that is helpful, its exactly this kind of view I was hoping for as I do not want to unnecessarily enter into (more) fights so the common sense aspect is useful, thank you for posting.

Personally I'd argue £1300 a month plus your wage of £50k+ is plenty - not worth the aggro going after more would cause and it seems a bit 'grabby' to me.

I'm all for people paying what is due, but it seems more than enough to me.

Its not me. I am using a family members account.
Thanks for the view about being grabby tho.
I was hoping for comments about process.

Guess the question is why do you feel you need more? £1300 a month is a pretty substantial supplement to your household income, equivalent of an extra take home pay of almost £16K. CMS is meant to cover 'their half' of the costs of the kids. Do your kids really cost you £2600 a month to house and feed? Does he pay anything else? E.g. towards uniforms, trips etc?

If you take him to court it will be acrimonious - could you not have a reasonable discussion and maybe come to an agreement? Could be slightly increased CMS, contributions towards other things like uniforms etc.

Not worth it - is his other child living an amazing lifestyle that your children aren’t privy too?

His salary is heavily taxed and you may not be that far off their joint income when you add your own income together

Dont forget he could easily see the kids more and your amount would reduce

I mean fine if you want to go down the road without considering the emotional and moral implications but you can’t moan when they are pointed out to you afterall this is mumsnet

HowcanIhelp123 · Today 13:00 thank you.

I am using a family members MN account so I might need to go in a minute.
I have two teenagers plus another child he had before I had my children with him living with me. He does know about the older child living with us but says he doesn't and so far as CMS are concerned that third child is not living with us and ex husband has said he doesn't want to know about his eldest child,

i guess people here are just going to look at the numbers and make a judgment about the merits which is my fault for setting them all out. I was kind of looking for the routemap plus some "common sense" (rather than personal judgment) type thoughts.

I am going to have to leave this thread now as i am using someone else's MN login.

Oh I should add - think footballer etc and yes in those cases the judge might award top up!

I think you need to get some calculations done. He is about 10-15 % above the upper limit so you are maybe looking at 100-200 per month. This is a rough and ready calculation on my part. He could use pension contributions to reduce his income and it will all be a waste of time and money.

How old are the children, including your step child who sounds like an adult?

I suppose if they are late teens and will age out if CMS in a few years the question is will you spend £’000s to get £’000s. Ending up no better off with a lot of stress.

If they a young it could be worth it over a longer period.

Is this something you can use as a bargaining tool to maybe extend support into university years?

LemonTT · Today 14:38 thank you so much this is very useful, food for thought, thanks for taking the time to post, grateful to you.

I would want to know if other than CMS his dc benefit from his high wage. Is he paying in other ways - holidays, clothes, tutors, etc?

How many children are you actually asking him to pay for?
and what are their ages?
You seem to have
his eldest
Two teens that are yours and not his
Another unspecified number of children that are yours and his.

So why is his eldest living with you and not his dad or mother?
And are you expecting him to pay for the two children that are not his?

Are any of the teenagers over 19 or not in full time education ?
if the youngest is 13 you are likely going to only get 5 years more child maintenance.

that is what I earn a month to support myself and Ds.

so he could definitely drop it down when second Ds hits 18 or leaves f:t education..

The two younger children are his and my biological children
The older child is his (not mine biologically) who has semi disowned (although he lived with us for a while when we were together) he does not acknowledge that he is living with me, he is 17 so i guess technically i could kick him out.
He pays nothing at all apart from what cms process via their service (for our two biological children) and resents what i do receive via that platform.

its ok, I am grateful for the replies, i have understood what i need to understand,.

Sorry if this is not something you think is justified to think about. Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.