Question re child maintenance

[wirral]

Can anyone help? My ex pays maintenance for our 8 year old daughter. It is reviewed April 1st every year as he is a shift worker and works overtime, gets shift allowance etc.

Our court order set the amount at £321. He has recently reduced this to £311 without prior notice. When asked for an explanation he stated that he had not worked as much overtime and was basing amount on 15% of net take home and deducting for 1 overnight stay a week.

To be honest he is so specific I am sure his calculation is correct. However I am slightly suspicious as he refuses to give me a copy of his P60 to check his calculation.

My query is three fold. Am I being unreasonable to request sight of the P60?

What can I do if he carries on refusing to provide a copy. For example what happens next year if he reduces it drastically?

My final query is what is maintenance supposed to cover? I suspect this is a subjective question. My ex pays me a 'reasonable' amount albeit the least that he legally can, but will not pay towards anything else for our daughter.

Thanks in anticipation of some help

Im no expert and very new to being a lone parent - however from my lowly research the 15% is what the csa w ould use as calculation of his net pay they do deduct an amount (%) for overnight stays if there are 52 per year. Have a look on various websites try googling am i entitled I did this for WFTC and CTC as for P60 stuff it would be nice - as My ex arsewipe p eanrs over £110 pa plus he got a net nonus (non guranteed) of £21300 in december which he wont pay me anything on to help support my dd - I think maintenance is for everything but it doesnt stop me asking him for extras like money for Brownies subs school uniform etc - the way I see it these things werent a problem when we were together and I dont see why my dd has to suffer as a result of him choosing to leave us - he spent £800 on a weekend away in paris the weekend he left us so he can well afford extra. See if yu can claim any extra benefits as well whether or not you are working - you dont get if you dont ask.

I personally wouldnt ask him for his P60 - if he pays without fail each month then he is interested in his childs welfare.

You get a decent amount in maintenance and no doubt your daughter gets things whilst with her dad so the maintenace should cover what she needs. I dont think you should ask for extras as £320 should cover everything a child needs in a month.

Erm yes I agree. I get £120 per month for 2 children so you're doing ok.

Ok. I wasn't aware that there was some sort of cut off point that makes the amount acceptable. If I hadn't mentioned the amount would that have made a difference. If he gave me £120 per month for 2 kids but reduced it to £50. Would that then not be acceptable?

7% is decuted by the CSA for each overnight stay.

that should be deducted obviously

i would love to see my ex's p60... dont think i will ask though as i know what the answer will be....

TBH i think you should get the fair % of his earnings, yes you get more than what i do ... but i know people who get more than you... one women i know gets £1500 a month for 3 children, and if that is a fair % of his earnings then great he is paying fair ammount....

some people get nothing i am gratful i am not one of them people

there is an online calculator somewhere to work it out and you put in the number of overnight stays per year

Its a hell of a lot more maintance than i get but then again im not getting any at the moment. XP decided to work part time so he can still claim JSA. So i get a grand total of £5 a week when it starts being paid

maintanance calculator

Wirral you're right and I did think this actually after my post. What is unfair is that he thinks he can take it upon himself to drop the amount. the question wasn't 'is this a reasonable amount of maintenance' so I apologize.

Thanks Lovedogsandcats. I do know what you mean. And in NO way do I want to come across as Money grabbing. Another thing I didn't mention is that I have a reasonably well paid job so maintenance etc is not that much of an issue for me.Although don't get me wrong I am not very well off and every contribution is gratefully accepted. I do know I am in a far better situation than most women with ex partners.

I guess I am just surprised by my ex's attitude. He left me. I am just surprised that he doesn't want to contribute more towards her life etc. I do appreciate that he must feel that he is indirectly supporting me etc. But when HE takes the decision to pay me less than the court order specifies I do think I ( and our daughter) deserve some sort of reason and , I guess, proof.

At the end of the day I know that I will just accept this and carry on. I am lucky. I can afford to. But what happens the year that he reduces it by a substantial amount or refuses to pay at all?

Shellylou, thanks for the link but I can't use it. If you read my post my ex wont tell me his salary nor will he give me his P60.

Thanks all for the chat. I am left knowing that I am not doing badly and that I should just count my blessings.

Sorry i juist read that he wouldnt let you see his P60. I keep forgetting to put my glasses on when i use the computer