Do many of you get more than the statutory %age for child maintenance (ie 20% for 2 DC)?

[nomoreharibo]

My solicitor advised me that its not unusual to get a third - 40% percentage of ex's net income to cover child and spousal maintenance - i cant see this ever happening, does it happen much? thanks

Not for me. Though my DP does pay more than the CSA minimum. He did this because he's well off and can afford to, and because he was advised that it would reduce the chances of his ex being difficult about contact.

I don't think it's that common to get more though. Spousal maintenance is somethign different - only for the well off I think these days and is part of a divorce settlement.

Would make it pretty difficult for him to maintain a separate place to live/have the kids unless he is loaded? I didn't think they had spousal maintainance any more.

Spousal maintenace won't be granted unless he's minted and it's part of a greater settlement.

If he is, nand you get a higher rate awarded, then make sure it is granted as part of the divorce and clearly defined as "spousal maintenance" if it is merely a higher form of Child maintenace then it can be overridden by the CSA after a year and can revert to the normal 20%.

If you go for spousal maintenance then I don't think it will be a clean break divorce - which could mean that if his luck changes and he end up without an income and you win the lottery/come into some money/secure a higher income he can seek maintenance from you instead!

Like wicked said, I beleive that the CSA calculation is the legal standard now; so if you are contesting the divorce in court and secure a higher CM payment, it can be over-ridden by the CSA.

I get about that. We didn't go down the CSA route, ex just still pays the mortgage and increased my housekeeping. Not sure what will happen long term though.

I think everything depends on your relationship with your ex, and how civil the two of you can be to each other over all sorts of issues.... maintenance, new partners, contact, holidays, extended family etc.... I would probably stick my neck out and say that it's probably not worth jepardising a good relationship for a few extra quid. You don't mention any other aspects, so I assume that so far it's all alright?

Although I get f-all from my ex, so you can take my 'advice' with a pinch of salt if you like!

(also, a third is closer to 30% (33.3 recurring), so if your solicitor told you it was 40% you might like to take their 'advice' with a pinch of salt too!!!??? )

It is possible. Your solicitor will know. My DPs ex gets more than that. He is a high earner (who had a shit solicitor) she is a SAHM (who had a shit hot solicitor).

And before any flaming I should add that in these circumstances the bare bones of the deal are reasonable...

Spousal maintenance certainly isn't only for the well off. If you were married and are getting divorced, and you have been the primary carer while your ex worked, you will be entitled to spousal maintenance. However, that's different to child maintenance. The 20% figure relates to child maintenance only.

Spousal maintenance is calculated on a "needs" basis and there is a very wide range of things that the court can take into account when considering "needs". Obviously though, your ex will need to support himself as well so you will not end up with the lion's share of his income. But if you don't have enough assets to generate income to support you, he will have to pay spousal maintenance for a while.

You don't say how long you were together. If only a short marriage, he will not have to support you indefinitely. As a guide, I was married 5 years, together 3 years before that, we have 2 DCs and I stopped working after the first was born. When we divorced I got spousal maintenance for 2 years only ( till the youngest want to school) and then was expected to support myself, though he obviously still has to pay child maintenance. He pays that at the rate it was set at 6 years ago in court, which I am sure is no longer 20% of his net income! In theory toucan go back to court to vary the level every year but in practice, I don't have thousands and thousands to spend on forcing him to pay a few hundred a month more.

Peppin, why not just use csa?

thewickedestsm, because the CSA can only award child maintenance, not spousal maintenance

I think that's the point, child maintenance and spousal maintenance are not linked, any more, are they?

I'd suggest using the CSA for CM and let the solicitors thrash out the spousal maintenance as a separate issue.

I thought wickedestsm meant, why don't you use the CSA now Peppin, now that your spousal maintenance has ended. That way you wouldn't have to pay thousands forcing him to pay through the courts.

Because CSA can only make an assessment on income up to £200k, and in recent years ex has earned more than that. He would resist any request for more, so it would be a resisted application, he can (and has in the past) hide money, and the CSA doesn't get involved in forcing the absent parent to reveal all their assets so it would just be a very stressful slanging match with no reward. I can't put the DCs through that.

"If you go for spousal maintenance then I don't think it will be a clean break divorce - which could mean that if his luck changes and he end up without an income and you win the lottery/come into some money/secure a higher income he can seek maintenance from you instead!"

That's not true, it is a clean break... for you but not for him ;-)

If your luck changes, and you end up better off, the worst thing that could happen is for spousal maintenance to be reduced to 50p (yes, £0.50) a year and once you need it again you can re activate it (as long as you are within the period specified by court, I understand that most spousal maintenances granted are on "until wife re marries or 6 months cohabitation" rule).

If your needs are increased (or he becomes more wealthy), you can go back to court for an increase in spousal maintenance. Whether that is granted or not depends on how big and reasonable are your needs and how affordable that is for your ex.

Having said, spousal maintenance is becoming a rarity, you need to demonstrate the need for it, that he can pay it, and it will help if you can show that, had you not been supporting his career and raising his children, you wouldn't have ended up so disadvantaged in financial terms.

However, managing to convince a court of all the above could be a rather expensive business, you may need to spend thousands of pounds to get it, and it may take several years for you to recover that money from spousal maintenance payments.

I cannot see how having your ex husband support you can be a clean break. But I have never experienced leaving a career and caring for children whilst husband earns 200k so maybe I'm in another world.
I had realised that csa don't do spousal maintenance but peppin was talking about 20% which csa could enforce... But, I didn't know about the 200k limit thing or hidden assets

My ex was in the very privileged position of being able to hide his huge salary under the guise of company expenses. I knew a child maintenance court order would expire within a year and that the csa wouldn't have the time or resources to check his company accounts or even to manage to get them. So i thought that getting spousal maintenace was the only way to avoid my ex not paying anything to support his child.

He has been forced to pay a relatively small amount in spousal maintenance, and sure enough, as soon as we were out of court he reduced the amount he pays in child maintenance to a negligible amount. If we put both maintenances together, the total is still far less than half what the csa specifies but it's much much better than what he intended to pay.

Having said that... I'm not sure yet if the whole exrcise has been cost effective, but having that order provides some sort or possibly imaginary safety net, that makes me feel a tiny little bit more relaxed.