Child Maintenance

[lifeisntperfect]

Hi there,

I am looking for a bit of advice really. I am bout to split with my boyfriend. We live together and have 2 kids, both under the age of 5.

We both work full time and we are on exactly the same salary per year (coincidence). I own the house we live in and he pays me "rent" each month. He moved in when we first got together.

We have always done everything 50/50 when it comes to the kids. We split nursery cost down the middle and buy them clothes and food etc. I pay my share and he pays his share. No problem there. This will not be a problem going forward.

My question is, if/when we split up. He will have the kids 50% of the time and I will have them 50% of the time. They will have clothes at his house and they’ll have clothes at mine. He’ll feed them when they’re with him and I’ll do the same when they’re with me. Literally 50/50.

However the government website sets that he still needs to pay me £340 per month. Why? Does anyone know? I mean don’t get me wrong I will take the cash but deep down I don’t understand why?

I will have a mortgage to pay but so will he. Gas, electric, council tax etc... and so will he. Gosh it sounds like I’m defending him but I’m not. I just need to understand why he has to pay me and I don’t have to pay him even though we’re doing everything 50/50. I am no push over and I can make sure it’s 50/50.

I will take the money if the system says so but it seems unfair?

Can someone explain to me why he still need to pay me. There was no information on the government website.

Thanks in advance 🙏🏽

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If you don’t need the money why don’t you both split the £340 and put it away in savings for children for when they’re older?

Zombie thread

There is absolutely no legal basis for a claim on the OPs equity by her partner, that is pure fiction. The moral case is another matter of course.

The child maintenance calculator online can't handle 50/50 care. The most you can tell it is that you have your kids 'more than 3 nights per week', and it still ends up calculating that one parent (the nrp) should be paying the other.

I had this exact problem with my ex - we were doing 50/50 shared care, but she went on the CMS calculator and it still told her that she should be receiving child maintenance from me. You can't argue with the CMS, the only way to prove to them 50/50 shared care is if you have a court order that states that's the arrangement. Otherwise CMS base their calculation on whatever the resident parent tells them (even if they're lying).

If you have 50/50 care it would be inappropriate and unnecessary to insist on child maintenance just because CMS is stick in the 1980s.