child maintenance - new partner/family

[smokinaces]

Just a quickie.

Ex-H is going to be setting up home with his girlfriend, but not marrying and as far as I know no children yet.

Will any of this affect the amount of CM?

My friend for instance is married with 2 children, and her income is included when calculating his CM for his previous child. is this just because they are married, or because they have children? Or from co-inhabiting?

Ta!

Sounds like your friend's situation was assessed under the old scheme. They don't include the new partners income any more.

If there's no children involved then your CM will remain the same. It is a percentage of your Ex's income. Nothing else.

cool, thanks Gilly. Thats what we wanted to check - he said he thought that was the case, but we were a little confused with the old/new rules thing. We're trying to remain amicable and do this without the CSA, but money always has the possibility of causing arguments so wanted to check it out first.

just as an afterthought - does that mean that if he decided to be a house husband and live off her wages for the foreseeable future, not even claiming dole, he wouldnt have to pay a penny of their household income to his previous children? That seems a little unfair. (not saying he will, just hypothetically)

Yes he would be assessed as having no income and you would get nothing. Lots of men do actually do this to avoid paying maintenance, hide their self emplyment income and say they are living off their new partners income. And if he became a student rather than a house husband you'd be in the same boat.
Though you could argue his lifestyle meant that he should contribute even if not earning. There are ways around it if he's living the life of riley and not paying anything and you can prove it.

It is very infair. You'll see plenty of people get practically nothing if you read the threads on here. But then lots also get what they should with no problems. Hopefully he'll be one of those.
The advice here is generally don't come to rely on the money, use it for extras, treats, holidays, savings etc if you can.

Thanks Gilly.

I've had probably 9/12 monthly payments in the last year which is better than nothing.I have budgetted my household income without it, and use it for extras such as day trips out, getting better quality clothes for the kids etc. Its hard though when they do miss those payments, but are still doing things like drinking/smoking/going out/ buying new things and you're stuck because the uniform needs buying that week.

But hopefully he'll continue paying.