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Original poster

Child Maintenance or Spousal Maintenance

52 replies

DADKiwi · 06/09/2023 11:16

Hello,

My consent order has the following wording regarding payments to my ex-wife.

The respondent undertakes to continue to providing the applicant with ongoing financial support for the benefit of Child 1 and Child 2 until each child finishes secondary education or turns 18, whichever is later at the rate of £287.50 per child payable on the 1st of each month to the applicant and to be reviewed on 1 January each year thereafter RPI index linked.

In the event that the respondents gross annual salary decreases by more than 10% the parties agree that a revised calculation would be made.

To me this strongly reads to be Child Maintenance and not Spousal Maintenance. The values above were reached using the CMS calculator.

I have the children 50% of the time so would not pay child maintenance.

Do other consent orders explicitly use the term Spousal Maintenance or Child Maintenance?

OP posts:
Lala161 · 07/09/2023 16:24

You have them 50% of the time, why does she need £500+ per month for them?
Don’t sign/agree to it.

ŁadnaPogoda · 07/09/2023 16:26

What @Lala161 says. Very few people get spousal support these days.

YouHoooo · 07/09/2023 16:37

Niche question, but any idea why RPI not CPI was used? That’s really rare in new contracts because it usually runs unrepresentitivly high.

HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow · 07/09/2023 16:38

If you had child maintenance in an existing agreed and stamped consent order you can superseded it by going via the CMS anyway after a year

If you are doing 50:50 then there is no child maintenance.

Spousal maintenance is vanishingly rare and mostly for the super reach or where there is significant difference in future earning capabilities. Not for the average couple, we are all expected to support ourselves.

If there is more than 1 are you each getting some child benefit? That can be important if someone gets fully about shared care and tries to move away from the 50:50 situation.

Noting kids sometimes choose to have a base as they get older and may want more time in one home than another, particularly if one is nearer to school and friendship groups.

Anxioys · 07/09/2023 16:42

If you have a consent order on maintenance then forget CMS as it is irrelevant- it's ordered by the court and they have control of it.

However, I'd say you'd have to be high earner in which case these figures are rather low. If you are, I wouldn't be seeking to challenge them.

HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow · 07/09/2023 16:47

Anxioys · 07/09/2023 16:42

If you have a consent order on maintenance then forget CMS as it is irrelevant- it's ordered by the court and they have control of it.

However, I'd say you'd have to be high earner in which case these figures are rather low. If you are, I wouldn't be seeking to challenge them.

Not true the guidance states

12 months after the consent order has been in place either parent can “opt-out” of the agreement in the consent order and choose to go through the CMS instead

diditbark · 07/09/2023 16:52

Hmmm.

This doesn't make sense. Unless you earn £90k a year and she earns £18k?

Anxioys · 07/09/2023 16:53

@HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow - doesn't apply does it unless this order is 12 months old at least?

HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow · 07/09/2023 18:24

Anxioys · 07/09/2023 16:53

@HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow - doesn't apply does it unless this order is 12 months old at least?

Yes only applies if the consent order is over 12months, we don't know whether that applies here or not

Also we don't know whether the consent order is signed yet at all, and in which case I would suggest contesting the request from the ex to include it

Original poster
DADKiwi · 07/09/2023 20:59

Consent order is 3 years old. Her earnings are irrelevant as the CMS calculator doesn't bother asking. Oh she works part time also (4 days a week)

My question was if the wording needed to explicitly state if maintenance is spousal or child.
Clearly she thinks it's spousal as she knows care is 50/50 so cannot call it child maintenance.

OP posts:
Anxioys · 07/09/2023 21:04

No, this money is stated for the children. The 50/50 requirement doesn't operate unless you get it set aside.

Even it was spousal, that means you still have to go to court to get it stopped.

RantyAnty · 07/09/2023 21:20

Consent order is about the split of finances that are agreed upon.
The amounts read like spousal maintenance to me.

Don't be cheap. Children don't much like cheap dads.

HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow · 07/09/2023 22:00

It reads like child maintenance to me. Is there a big difference in earnings?

FSTraining · 08/09/2023 08:08

This reads as child maintenance but are there any other clauses in the consent order to dismiss claims from your ex wife for maintenance? If there is not, you do not have a clean break and any attempt to cancel the child maintenance with a CMS application might be met with a request for SM.

jeaux90 · 08/09/2023 08:11

My partner did 50/50 but was ordered to pay CM because of the pay difference. He happily did so and so he should...children should have an equitable experience across both households. Yes it doesn't read like spousal support to me, it's rare now. Judges prefer a clean break with CM on top.

FSTraining · 08/09/2023 10:24

jeaux90 · 08/09/2023 08:11

My partner did 50/50 but was ordered to pay CM because of the pay difference. He happily did so and so he should...children should have an equitable experience across both households. Yes it doesn't read like spousal support to me, it's rare now. Judges prefer a clean break with CM on top.

Yes but a court can only order it for one year. He presumably was happy not to go to CMS which is understandable because (provided both parents are pulling their weight to earn money and not ending up significantly better off than the other due to cohabiting) paying more to have equitable experiences across both households is a good child centric approach to take.

caringcarer · 08/09/2023 10:45

DADKiwi · 07/09/2023 20:59

Consent order is 3 years old. Her earnings are irrelevant as the CMS calculator doesn't bother asking. Oh she works part time also (4 days a week)

My question was if the wording needed to explicitly state if maintenance is spousal or child.
Clearly she thinks it's spousal as she knows care is 50/50 so cannot call it child maintenance.

The order clearly states it's for benefit of DC. It's for child maintenance. At the time of order being made perhaps your exe had the DC more than you. You can stop paying it on grounds you have DC 50 percent of the time. You don't have to pay your ex spousal maintenance. You should agree to go halves on uniforms, school shoes, school lunches, hobbies etc or if your ex can't afford these you should pay these directly instead of the monthly amount to your ex.

AuContraire · 08/09/2023 10:51

How long have you had the DC 50/50?

Original poster
DADKiwi · 08/09/2023 11:07

I've had the children 50/50 from the very beginning.
My mortgage is going up £700 a month (ex doesn't have a mortgage following divorce) so money is getting tight.

Feels like I'm subsidising her part-time mortgage free lifestyle.

OP posts:
Anxioys · 08/09/2023 11:16

You don't mention your income OP. It's quite unusual to have child maintenance set out in a court order unless you have an income of 150k plus.

Do you?

Original poster
DADKiwi · 08/09/2023 11:17

Income is less than £100k

OP posts:
Anxioys · 08/09/2023 11:21

But was that the figure disclosed to the court at the time of the order? And the child arrangements were known too?

jsku · 08/09/2023 11:56

The wording does sound like it is child, not spousal. And as you are below 150K/year you CM can be defined by CMS, and she cant claim for extra through the courts.

How are you diving kid’s expenses - clothing, clubs, childcare, etc? Is your ex part time bc kids are small?

On paper - it does sound that you are within your rights to opt out of the consent order and pay CMS only. And at 50/50 - you wont have to pay.
You do need to look at the big picture and see what it’ll mean for the kids. Will it make it so you and ex argue over covering expenses or activities - as she’ll be less able to ‘pay her share’
If you do go strictly CMS route - just make sure you think about practicalities and implications.

Original poster
DADKiwi · 08/09/2023 12:32

All expenses e.g. school etc are shared. I kay for swimming, gymnastics and kids party gifts (as they are with me every weekend).
Kids are 7 and 9.

OP posts:
KomodoDodo · 08/09/2023 12:37

Its not the case that you won’t have to pay if 50/50 care. I had a long and very detailed discussion with the CMS about this and its dependant on the larger owners salary. If you’re a high earner cms calculator also takes this into account if you do an online check.