Maintenance issues

[WouldRatherHaveWine]

I split with my ex a few months ago, he's taken it particularly hard and denies any knowledge that we were in trouble, therefore is very bitter and is obviously saying some delightful things about me.

One of his issues is not wanting to pay maintenance for the 2 DCs.

He's saying he doesn't have to pay as we share childcare equally, admittedly the last 2 weeks we have due to me having weekend commitments, but for the majority of the time he has them once maybe twice overnight per week.

Just wondering if anyone has gone through CSA - what was your experience, how long did it take, and was it an ugly battle?!

Feeling pretty disheartened

I he claims you have 50/50 shared care then CMS will not require him to pay you CM at all... he may be asked to prove it or you may be asked to prove otherwise but I believe the new CM rules say that where parents have equal care of the child(ren) then no CM will be paid as both parents are expected to pay for everything the child needs while they are with that parent.

I also believe that the parent who gets CB is the parent who also gets WTC and CTC... I don't know that for a fact but hopefully someone will come along with facts for you that will help....

Yeah, I went through CSA (actually it's now called CMS - Child Maintenance Services). It costs £20 to set up. They have been not too bad, however, I had a massive problem with EXH lying about his income. No idea how he managed it, I can only assume that he gets a lot of bonuses now on top of a low base salary. He told them he earned £32k per year, when in fact, it was £132k! Despite my arguing that his salary was wrong, they wouldn't believe me. I have now referred my case to the Independent Case Examiner, and the whole case is to be reexamined. My advice - do everything in writing! None of my calls were logged. If you have any old payslips of his, or bank statements showing his salary going on, keep them, as you may need them.

The thing is, it's not just about how many nights a week they stay where, it's also about who pays for clubs/clothes/school trips etc, isn't it? But that is never considered in the calculations. But I found that, when my kids stayed at ExH 2 nights a week, that his maintenance payments to me probably covered the expenses I was paying for, iyswim.