Maintenance

[sleepraptor]

Does anyone know how child maintenance works? If DH earns 4x my salary and we split up but share childcare 50/50 would he need to pay me any maintenance? Thanks.

Hello do you mean you have 50:50 shared custody? I’d check it out with citizens advice and:or get legal advice you can usually get a free half hour with solicitor

I would expect no maintenance would be paid if you shared the child care equally.

It depends. Courts and CMS are not good with shared care. In theory, if you claim child benefit, you could claim but he could challenge this if he can evidence that share care is exactly 50/50, ie. One week with one, the other with the other parent. 3 nights vs 4, even if days are the same is not considered shared care.

Also, if there are two children, one could claim for one and the other the other child. In this case, each would pay the other but as its based on income, one would need to pay more.

I suggest you pop over to divorce and separation threads, there was one on there on this topic the other day.

Regulation 50(2) of the Child Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 applies. If care is exactly shared, neither parent is treated as the NRP, and therefore no maintenance is due in either direction.

Equal shared care is based on more than nights - both parents also need to be involved in this like education, healthcare etc.