50/50 shared care - should I claim child benefit

[HardyCat]

I currently have a 50/50 childcare split with my 3 boys staying with me exact equal times! I currently work full time but do take one or 2 morning off a week to look after my 3 year old before he goes to afternoon nursery and work longer hours when I don’t have my children to make up for it. I am in a tricky position as my ex claims universal credit as she is only part time and gets more that way than working full time. She also claims child benefit for the children as she always has and I have never questioned it as thought it was only right that she gets this. She now has started to claim child maintenance from me which is £300 per month, after speaking with child maintenance they said she is entitled to this as she claims the child benefit even though they know we have equal share! They told me the only thing to do is contact child benefit and tell them we have 50/50 care and they will stop the benefit for her as I am unable to claim anyway because of my earning! So if I do this she will lose out on £260 a month for the benefit plus my £300 I give her but if I do this then I will be £300 better off, as I go halves on everything anyway, haircuts, clothing, after school clubs etc! Not sure what I should do and what is morally right to do, any advice I would appreciate

If it’s truly 50:50 then at the very least you should claim child benefit for at least one of the kids and you shouldn’t be paying maintenance

I’ve just realised you say you’re not entitled to CB

I see your predicament. She is cheeky to ask for maintenance if it’s 50:50 considering she gets to only work part time with top ups. She shouldn’t be asking for a penny off you so I would have it out with her and say that the CB is to pay for the stuff for the kids. You could leave your higher paid job and work part time then you could claim UC as well so she’d be worse off. I think she should be happy with the situation as it is

If they were both working full time then I’d agree with this but she has the luxury of working part time then I don’t agree on this situation.

But she would earn less working full time and paying for childcare right now (different when youngest goes to school probably). So she has maximised her income for the time being. He has also lessened his income but (luckily!) his income was high enough to be able to do this and still cover living expenses. So they both have the 'luxury' of not working full time.

I think he does work full time hours though but to get the mornings off he does 12/14 hour shifts.

How did this turn out OP?