Child maintenance- single Dad

[BarbRoyle]

Can anyone advise/ share their knowledge re the following circumstances: my step- brother is in the process of getting divorced and is quite likely to be awarded custody of his two school- aged children (wont go into circs- that would be another thread). His stbxw has moved to another area and is co- habiting with new boyfriend. She isnt working but claims the child benefit plus other benefits (has a back problem so maybe disability? - not really sure). They currently have 50/50 custody of kids. My step- brother is self employed - not a huge earner. The stbxw boyfriend (renting a house together) is wealthy. What happens if my step- brother gets full custody (with stbxw having access every other weekend/hols). Would stbxw have to pay any maintenance? Would the co-habitee's earnings have any bearing on what/if she paid?
Hope that makes sense. Thanks for any help/knowledge/experience.

She would only have to pay maintainance if working. I think she may have to pay £5 a week I think from benefits but not sure that disability benefits can be counted as they are to help with a disability.. Her new bf's earnings are nothing to do with supporting her kids so wouldn't be taken into account. If your brother is the main carer/ resident parent for the children then he is entitled to claim the tax credits and child benefit. Obviously it will depend on his income. As a general rule with 2 kids if he earns less than 32k he should get help. The threshold is higher if paying childcare costs too.

Thanks Babyroobs. Hopefully if he gets custody then he could get some help. At the moment she gets the child benefit and wont halve it - constantly on holiday with new foreign boyfriend and not having kids 50/50 as agreed. Hope, for the kids sake, he gets custody. Step- brother just hoping he can afford it 😕

My ex doesn't pay a penny (I am the single mother and nor does he have them to stay - silly man) and I dont' even get child benefit.

I believe it is assessed as said above on the person's income not their rich new partner.

Thanks Lucy. As the child of a single mum with a Dad who never ever paid maintenance - good on you, your kids will love u for being everything to them x

My partner never got a penny from his ex wife for their daughter. The ex wife was on disability benefits, she started suffering with headaches at the same time she was told she needed to pay for her child. Quite happy to receive maintenance for the other children though. 🙄

Lots of foreign holidays and expensive clothes despite supposedly living alone (boyfriend just "visited" every night).

Unfortunately there are deadbeat Mums as well as Dads.

Unfortunately you are very right 🙁

If your step brother is awarded custody of his children firstly, he should contact child benefit and make a claim for it himself. Child benefit will not be halved by HMRC it will only be paid to one person. Secondly his stbxw's partner's income has no bearing on her maintenance payments (If any) which leads me to third point, employment benefits such as jobseekers or income support maintenance will be £7 a week. If it's a disability benefit some are disregarded so maintenance would be 0 some it would be £7. The amount of access stbxw has may also have a contributing factor as to whether there is a reduction in maintenance. But really your step brother needs to be awarded child benefit and the tax credits for the children.