Does anyone know if there's a maximum child maintenance you can receive

[aaloa]

We are doing it through ourselves now because if child maintenance taking a fee we both want all the payments to go towards the kids.

We agreed £300 is this what would be acceptable or considered too high

If you set it between yourselves is it whatever you want it to be?

via child maintenance they said £320 but that included arrears. He obviously still has to pay his arrears which I will get also.

I would go through cms. If he’s willing and sends the payment then there’s no fee.
If you already are owed arrears from him are you confident he’ll always willingly pay you update you on salary increases etc?

No there isn’t a limit if you set it up between yourselves and not sure how that would even work? Like who would tell you they can’t pay that much? I’ve known people to get 1k a month.

Some people get paid thousands a month…there’s never going to be a limit

Go for the second option with CMS it costs a one off admin fee of around £20 which is well worth it as they review the payment amount every year. And it puts a middle man between he two of you and money discussions.

There is no maximum and £300 isn't particularly alot anyway so he can't be earning ££££ although it's alot more than some get.

There’s a minimum £7 rate (I know as this is what dh pays his ex) and no maximum as far as I’m aware

Imagine admitting that out loud 😳

There is a maximum via CMS but it's an awful lot.

There is no maximum if you agree it between yourselves. How could you tell a parent they cant give as much as they want to their child?

If you use CMS I believe they disregard any of the NRPs earnings that are over 3k per week but it doesn't sound like your ex is in that category

Imagine being so ignorant that you’d criticise someone when you know nothing about their circumstances, finances or situation.

Dh pays his ex £7 a week. He doesn’t work because he has a severe disability. We have dss 4 (sometimes 5) nights a week. We buy ALL his clothes and school uniform and pay for ALL his clubs and activities plus other things we have in place in the co parenting agreement.

There is a limit. Child Maintenance disregard any earning above £3,000 a month/ £156,000 a year. Which means the maximum amount for one child is approx £1,050 a month / 13,000 a year.

There is the option to apply to court for a top up order, if the paying parent is a very high earner.

Sorry that should have been £3,000 a week

And you choose to marry him?
Wow talk about searching in the gutter.

See my reply above ⬆️

He has his DS more than 50? Then she should be paying not him. Given this is MN though I'd say add a disclaimer next time. Sounds like he's more than doing his bit.

Up till a year ago we had him every weekend. We then paid a lot more . Due to issues with DH ex (very personal so I can’t add detail) he had to spend more and more time with us . So the maintenance has dropped right down and it will go back when his mum is recovered and can manage more.

He sounds like a good dad.

How would I apply for the top-up order please?

My four children live with me full time and don't see their mother. I have an injunction preventing any further contact due to DV from her towards me after we separated. She wasn't interested in contact with the children prior to this.

When we separated it was agreed that she pays £520 per child, per month. Two of my children have diagnosed additional needs. I've never been through CMS, this was a handshake arrangement our solicitors agreed for us, she's always kept to it. I've never understood exactly where this figure came from.

The issue is that she is a high earner and honestly this feels like an insult to the children. I left my (also high earning) role when we separated, I home-educate my children (read: additional needs) so I cannot feasibly work now.

This amount of money is pocket change to her, for everything she has put my children through they deserve more. Right now I support us from my (limited) savings and investments. I'm not entitled to universal credit or child benefit, if I was I'd already be claiming for it. I've spent the last decade as a high-rate tax payer for heavens sake, I thought these systems were designed to help people when they're in difficult situations.

She earns about £400k, and she is likely to increase her earnings in the next 5 years also.

I appreciate it's first world problems, but it's a massive adjustment for everyone. We've had to move areas and downsize to a much smaller home. My family all live abroad so I have no childcare, I self-referred to children's services hoping to apply for respite care for my eldest daughter (she's 7 years old and has asd/pda and joint/mobility issues. She needs pretty much 24/7 care), they weren't interested in helping because the children weren't at risk of serious harm. She does receive DLA though which does help slightly.