Out of curiosity what is the going rate for child maintenance?

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Have a friend who is going through a pretty rough divorce ,who has a husband on a good wage and apparently she is (or should i say her children ) entitled to only 20% of his net wage ,which equates to about £400 a month. I was really shocked by this ,am i just really naive?

£400 a month is good. I receive £12 a week!

yes is on a percentage 20% sounds right.

Yes, just 20% for two children. Then deducted from that figure will be the number of nights the children stay overnight with their dad.

So, basically, the more nights per week he has the children, the less she will receive.

It's 20% maintenance for 2 children, but she should also be entitled to a proportion of join assets on divorce.

Divorce is not the money-making game the right wing press would have you believe .

Not much, is it??? Crikey I really thought it was more than that. Would be very difficult, for example, to support self as SAHM unless H was on megabucks

is it 10% per child?

Depends if H is self employed or not. If employed it is harder to hide income. If self employed it appears to be relatively easy. Ex is self employed and has a lifestyle completely inconsistent with his declared earnings. There is nothing that the CSA can do without proof of what his earnings actually are.

15% for 1, 20% for 2. Don't know if it goes up after that if you have more.

It's a concern TBH - DH is always making jokes about how I would get all the money if we divorced, but I don't think he really has any idea it's such a small amount.

So how does a SAHM have any financial stability? I always thought it would be OK because if they divorced they would get money to sustain them in their current lifestyle, but that is clearly not the case. Looks like you need assets in your own name.

If she is dependent upon him she will be entitled to a maintenance payment for herself as well. Not sure of the figures though.

I guess in part out of division of assets Chateau. So if you have a lot of equity in your house, half of that should belong to you even if you are a SAHM.

But the truth is, it is shit, and it's why so many women and children are so much worse off after divorce.

If DH left me, he would keep 80% of his income, whereas I'd be left with 20% plus the pittance I earn from being self-employed, and all the childcare costs and very little reduction in outgoings.

And he wonders why I am desperate to get back to work?

What if she was dependent on him but has now gone back to work, but her career is still much diminished compared to before? Also, what if the children have left home? Clearly no child support...

Agree with Bramshott. that's why if you don't keep up your independent earning potential when you have kids, you are putting yourself in a very vulnerable position.
And why so many lone parents are reliant on benefits even if they work.

I find it shocking tbh - 20% is a pitiful estimate of how much it costs to maintain children. Does that include housing costs as well? I'd say that most of our household income goes directly or indirectly to supporting the children.

Effectively the state is picking up the tab for fathers - and subsidising the additional costs of maintaining two households rather than one.

All the research shows that women get poorer after divorce and men get richer. And I guess since most children spend most time with the mother, the children are also poorer.

Chateau - I think the law takes the view that a woman can support herself, regardless of what she has become accustomed to during marriage. A good reason not to become accustomed to living off someone else's wage.

The resident parent recieves tax credits and child benefit. The equity in the house wouldn't be split 50/50. And you can claim spousal maintenance.

I don't think there are any winners in divorce.

What would be a fair percentage?

i think the CSA rules say it has to be a minimum of 10% of their pre-tax monthly salary. ie £200 if they earn 24k a year.

my ex doesnt pay that though, no where near but i dont want to involve the csa long story

per child i mean.

No it is net salary after deduction for pension contributions. So it if there was one child it would be 15% of net salary after deduction of tax, NI and pension. There is a limit on how much can be deducted as pension contributions though.

Wow I am going to ask for a contract if I become a SAHM!

wow £400! my friends ex paid £25 a week, she went to CSA to get more, they granted £26 pw so she appealed, by the time the appeal went through his new gf was pregnant, he pleaded having to support her and their new baby and he only had to pay £8 pw to his ex!

My ex gives me £25 a month (he works part-time and is on benefits). AND he wants the whole £20k back his family put into buying was was our pitifully small flat

I don't think you get spousal maintenance unless there is some reason (such as disability) why you can't earn an income yourself.

What's wierd is that DH (and probably most of the men in this country who've read all of these reports of £5million divorce settlements) think that the wife gets all of the money on divorce .

I have been divorced for 3 yrs now and the money I recive from my ex is 250PM for our DS. I was working full time my own house and sorting out DS full time. He first gave me 50PM!!! And said that was enough!! So I rang the child maintiance people and it was £280 he says I will give you £250 and thats it. So thats where we are today. I think 400PM is good. If you have the children full time and have to sort out child care for them due to working your entitled to more things off the goverment such as working tax credit and help with child care costs. This was a great help for me. I think there is a calculator to give you a rough estimate on the child support agency for child maintinace. There are factors such as how much they earn and how many days they have them.

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