Ex Husband has kids 3 days a week - can i claim maintenance?

[petal68]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here but been reading the boards for quite a few months!

Not sure if this should be in here or lone parents board but hopefully someone can help.

ExH has the kids three nights a week and at the time we split up 4 years ago i was advised in a half hour free legal session that i couldnt claim maintenance because of this. Ex is the sort to fight things to the bitter end and in fact told me he would rather pack his job in than pay me maintenance!

Anyway i was looking at the CSA website today for something else and it seemed to say that i could claim even tho he has them 3 nights - does anyone know if this is correct?

It might be that i decide not to claim in any case as ex is still very awkward but it would be nice to know just in case. At moment i pay majority of childcare,school meals, uniform, school shoes etc as i get WFTC and the child benefit.

If anyone could give me some advice that would be great!

Thanks

Thats almost 50/50 residence so I dont think you can claim and I dont see why you should tbh if you share care.

If you get the WTC and FA that should cover school meals and uniform etc.

I think you can put in the figures on the CSA website which includes how many overnight stays the children have with him in a year. It then calculates what if anything you are owed.

yes you can get it, check this calculator here just assume earnings weekly.

there is a pull down box for how many nights he has children per year, so if he's in the 156-175 nights, and earns say 300 a week, you'd get 26 per week for one child.

My ex has our children for half of the week and i get £80 per month csa

Thanks for all the replies - nice to know where i stand

Happymummy I see your point and its one that he makes as well its just that if things get very tough moneywise in the near future I may well need some extra money.

Also grates about when he pleads poverty, earns £10k more than I do and has 3 foreign holidays a year but that's another story!

Thanks again