Maintenance for stepchildren

[AllyMcBeal]

Hi my sincere apologies to anyone who has read this already, but wanted to post here as well as in Relationships to see if I get a different perspective.
My (d)h and I are on the verge of splitting up, so I am just wondering where I will stand?
I have a ds and am a SAHM, although he is not his biological son, and I already receive maintenance from ds's father.
We share a home obviously, and he has always supported me financially as I don't work.
Obviously I will now need to find work, but I am just wondering whether or not I am entitled to anything from him towards my son's upbringing? As I will only be able to work part time and I am just not sure I will be able to cover all costs on that and my current maintenance payments.
Has anyone been in a similar situation?
TIA

It's down to the child's parents to support him, that's you and his father. I don't think you'd be entitled to anything from your husband towards your ds.

I am that you think your soon to be ex should pay once you are not living together. If they have a good relationship I would be more concerned about keeping that going!

There are some circumstances where a non-biological parent can be assessed as liable for child maintenance (say if the child has been brought up as the parents child for years and would be classified as a dependent of that parent).

Your case is not one of them - the biological parent has been providing support (maintenance) so your soon-to-be-ex would not be liable for maintenance (also as his is not the child's bio parent).

Your solicitor is probably going to advise you to apply for ancillary relief (i.e. spousal maintenance), especially as you have been a SAHM.

I don't think you can claim maintenance for your child - the best thing to do is speak to your solicitor.

Definately not for the child, but possibly for you.

Although if you didn't have a child of pre-school age there is no reason why you couldn't support yourself, and as the child isn't his I would be surprised if he was expected to effectively pay for you not to work and bring up somebody elses child.

My first marriage ended in divorce and although he earnt considerably more than me I wasn't entitled to ancillary relief (not that I would have dreamt of taking it if I was - I had a job that I could effectively support myself with!).

How old is your child?

I agree, speak to your solicitor.

are you for real - you were wondering if 2 men should be supporting your child

If that were the case you could in theory end up with a string of them paying you. My goodness, some of the posts on here never fail to amaze me

No, there is no reason why your soon to be exH should pay maintenance for your son who is no relation to him.

Start budgeting love!

Check on www.entitledto.co.uk to check the benefits situation if you were single.