Child Maintenance Query

[Snowdonia]

I've read on here and other websites of fathers who have their children 50% of the time and pay half for everything who don't have to pay child maintainence. Is this right? If so, how do you manage to get the child maintenance servies to agree to this? Do they bother to look into?

My DH has DSS 50%, we take him on holiday every year, pay for uniform, clothes, packed lunch, half of school trips etc, and currently pay ex partner every month. Is this fair and normal for most?

He tried to speak to them last year and explain, just to see if the arrangements were correct but got nowhere. Since then I've read many a time about fathers in these situations who don't pay. I just don't know how my DH is to go about it. He will be ringing the child maintenance services soon for the annual review so he's just wondering if it's worth giving it another go.

DH's job is changing in the new year but because his decrease in pay is just shy of the 25% to be considered for a review he will still be paying her the same amount the review has stated.

If it is normal to continue to pay then fair enough. I'm just trying to get an idea of other people's situations.

Thanks!

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/672432/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf

Page 29 says:

Q: What happens if the day-to-day care of a child is equal between a paying parent and a receiving parent?
A: In this situation, the paying parent does not have to pay any child maintenance for that child.

I’m not sure on the rules if it’s under one of the old schemes though.

Maybe Citizens Advice could help.

Ahh great! Thank you. DH received the booklet today. I've just read the bit you pointed out. He will ring tomorrow.

Thanks a lot :)

CMS staff are not very good at understanding this. I had to refer them to the right bit of the law, which is Regulation 50(2) of the Child Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012. It requires "equal shared care" in order for neither parent to be treated as NRP (and therefore liable for maintenance) - that's not quite the same as 50/50. It means that responsibility for medical care, school expenses etc has to be split equally, in addition to parents having equal time. The CMS will ask a few questions to establish whether care is shared equally, and will then issue a nil assessment.

Worth saying that, even once you've established that there is no legal liability to pay, it is always worth ensuring that you put the kids first in everything. So, even though I'm not required to pay, I still give the ex a monthly payment because I earn a lot more than her, and it helps ensure the kids have a good standard of living at both homes. She's a bit useless at playing her part, so I end up paying for most things actually - uniforms for both houses, school trips etc. Always worth remembering that the kids come first, even when the letter of the law doesn't require you to pay.

Firstly there is a matter of how 50% is counted. There was a thread some time ago by a poster stating she and her Oh had kids for fifty percent of the time but when it came to calculating it, it was closer to 40%. Cms goes on nights rather than days, probably for facility purposes rather than logical.

Then whoever is claiming child benefit will play a role. Claiming CB means you get maintenance by default, there is then a case to be made that CB shouldn't be a consideration.

Then it depends on how many kids are involved. It's easier with two because you can claim that one is pwc of one child and the other parent of the other child and it therefore balances put although even then, one can find themselves paying the other parent if one earns a lot more (both would pay but one a lot more).

With one child, it is expected that you'd come up with some agreement if care is truly 50/50 as in one week with one parent, the second with the other. Maintenance is not about the parents but the child. If a child could do something one week with one pare t because they can afford it but not the other week because the other parent can't, then a judge could rule in favour of maintenance if it went to court. Not fair if one parent decides not to work for instance but judges are only really concerned with the best interest of the child.

SlightlyMisplacedSingleDad -

That's really helpful. Thank you.

Of course DSS comes first. If CMS do decide DH doesn't have to pay then he won't stop it immediately, certainly not right before Christmas. DH has suggested maybe decreasing it slightly over a period of time. We will still buy DSS his clothes, uniform etc. We're also more than happy to continue paying for trips and everything. Whatever DSS needs

As it is now the ex takes great pleasure in telling DSS that he lives with her and just visits us because she's the one he is registered to live with and gets the money. It's really frustrating that she thinks it's ok to tell a 10 year things like this. It would be great If she couldn't actually say nonsense like that to DSS. DH will never stop providing what DSS needs.

Thanks again for the info!

Regulation 50, which someone has already referenced above states there is no maintenance payment if 50/50 shared care. However, there is also another clause in it that states if shared contact is almost equal, and you can evidence that care is shared in terms of day to day things, then no payment is required. There are a few examples of cases that have gone to tribunal successfully where a parent has a child just less than half and has therefore been paying maintence, but because they are sharing all day to day care; school, clubs, clothes, school holiday care, homework and can evidence that they do not carry out ‘less’ care... it appears you have the same status as 50/50 physical contact. It appears an infrequently exercised area perhaps because it’s much simpler and easier from the CMS point of view to calculate based on nights rather than be interested in the day to day context.