Should he pay child maintenance?

[Qwincy]

My ex and I are divorcing. He pays half of the mortgage and in January we will be putting the house up for sale.
He doesn’t pay any maintenance and says he won’t until we sell the house as he is paying half of the mortgage.
When we sell, we are splitting the equity 50:50 so he will get his money back then?
Meanwhile, I’m buying the food, drink, paying all household bills and everything else that comes with having the children.
He has them 2 nights a week.
Any advice would be greatly received, I have a solicitor but they are very slow in getting back to me.

Yes, he should be

Of course he should be.

Just further to my reply...you can just go via child maintenance options (their name is something like that) to get it.

Just a slight warning though - technically, if the mortgage is in both names, he can move back in. Is he likely to do that if you claim the maintenance and would you be OK if he did?

Yes, he should, but he could also always live in the house or live with family/friends to save money so that he can afford both.

I'd check with CMS tbh because I thought if ex was paying the mortgage and it was equal to calculator or more that the nrp didn't also have to pay cms but I could be wrong

Well presumably he's paying half a mortgage on a house he is no longer living in whilst he is forced to live elsewhere and also pay rent - he isn't required to pay the mortgage whilst not living there so I would think that would offset any CMS

When my sister went though this they agreed through solicitors that he’d pay half the mortgage until the house was sold in lieu of maintenance, or the other option was he’d pay maintenance but he’d be moving back into the house as he physically could afford to pay rent, mortgage and maintenance. Unless he’s a big earner I suspect your ex may be thinking along the same lines, he needs to pay for the kids but also has to house himself and them so a degree of compromise is needed in these situations.

He should but could equally charge you rent for his half of the house. Depends if maintenance would be more

As per PPs - if his half of the mortgage is more than what he'd pay in maintenance, I'd not rock the boat.

You could ask him to pay maintenance retrospectively once the equity is released, perhaps? But then he might bill you for the mortgage. It's a rough one until you sell.

Often if there is a disparity in salaries and one is paying most of childcare costs then an interim maintenance payment is agreed, until final settlement however it has to be based on need.

What is the income difference between you both? What will be his living costs? If you are entitled to benefits you would be required to claim those.

He’s paying for a house he’s not living in ?

Thanks for your replies everyone. I won’t push the maintenance issue with him yet then until
The house is sold,
He is having to pay for his rented property too. We both earn a similar wage, there’s not a huge difference between us.
He has a lot of debts due to his reckless spending which I know is also affecting his ability to
Manage finances.

@Yoshinori

He’s paying for a house he’s not living in ?

Of course he is - he still part-owns it. You don't magically stop being responsible for a mortgage when you no longer live there.

No you don’t stop being responsible but it’s a complicated area and sometimes yes the party that has been forced or volunteered to leave the property can make a case for non payment. I thinks it a reasonable question to ask.

Good idea @Qwincy whilst he is paying the mortgage without any aggro I’d not rock the boat and maybe wait until the house is sold. You could always ask for say an extra £xx amount per month until the missing maintenance is caught up with or ask for extra from the sale of the house to make up the shortfall?

It's likely that 50% of the mortgage is more than you'd get from cms anyway so I'd leave it for now. You could argue for more of the equity in the basis of need if the children's main home is o be with you, but not wildly so, 60/40 maybe.