Maintenance payment review?

[Prforone]

Is there such a thing? ExH and I divorced in 2005 and a maintenance sum was agreed via our solicitors based on 15% of ExH's net pay per month.

Once that amount is decided, is that it for the rest of the child's life? Or is there such thing as a maintenance review? I know for a fact ExH has had 2 pay rises in the past 8 years (he even bragged about it). I mentioned when DD started school 4 years ago that there were extra expenses as a result, eg., school uniform, school dinners, school trips, etc., but it fell on deaf ears. Does he have a duty to increase maintenance in line with cost of living expenses?

no idea as it was done through solicitors but I know CSA send me a letter every year to tell me payments will continue for another year at £10 per fornight.

If the arangement was going through the CSA it would only change if the income of you exh changed as they work on 15% of declared (they check at first) net income (but it is changing). You can ask the CSA for a review if you think income has changed and not been declared which I am sure will be the case in this case but maybe not as some people are having wage cuts due to recession.
The lawyers on the legal page know a lot more about this and there is already some threads on there about this I think.
It may be worth going through the CSA if you think his current income would give the DC a lot more than they get now or it may go down and there is the rocking the boat issue regarding the relationship you have with him for the sake of your DC - it is always best to have it by agreement if you can but I know that that is not always possible.

When we made our financial settlement, I was insistent that the review date and process was built into the agreement. Each new annual payment Starts in June and is based on 18% of his last years income based on his P60, which he has to provide me a hard copy of (quite pleased with that bit!). I insisted that it includes any bonus payments, as his can be up to £20k, and that payments go on until she either reaches 18 or leaves fulltime education.
I have read that any private arrangement, even if it was written into the official divorce financial paperwork, can be challenged after a year, but am sure my ex doesn't, so I'm not telling him!
You are almost certainly being under paid. I thought 15% was usual for a single child through the CSA, so I would go through them. Best of luck!

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think he can decide to pay more into his pension so he doesn't have to increase his maintenance payments. He could be doing this already so the pay rise doesn't affect his NET income - or he might start doing it when it's reviewed just to get out of any increase. Worth bearing in mind/reading up on just to prepare yourself for the possibilities.

When child maintenance was agreed as part of a consent order settling the overall finances on divorce it depends on the exact terms of the order. Sometimes there are annual maintenance increases in line with inflation, but with child maintenance it's often for a fixed amount which doesn't increase. If the latter applies your ex has no duty to increase payments.

Normally the CSA has jurisdiction for child maintenance and the courts have no powers to impose child maintenance or a variation. So if you think an increase would be reasonable check out the CM Options website's calculator and then you can either voluntarily negotiate a family based arrangement or apply to the CSA/Child Maintenance Service for an assessment. If you apply to the CSA/CMS the court order will cease to have any effect with regard to CM two months and two days after the application.

Generally parents are happier with arrangements they agreed and are more likely to stick to them than when arrangements are imposed by the authorities. Also the CSA/CMS will introduce charges for application and collection in the near future.