Child maintenance

[caz79]

My boyfriend has reduced his ex wifes maintenance for their two children as we have just had a child together and he has them overnight every week.the maintenance amount was entered as a consent order during their divorce but now she is threatening through a solicitor to take him to court and for him to pay the costs of this. Was wondering if anyone knew the ins and outs of this please?

[caz79]

I know this is supposed to be in Parenting but clicked the wrong button sorry!

[WendyS]

I suspect that if you boyfriend wants to reduce the amount of maintenance he pays, he will need to go back to court (or the Child Support Agency) and try to renegotiate the financial agreement on the grounds that his personal circumstance, i.e. having another child, have changed. . If your boyfriend only has them one night per week however, I suspect this will not be deemed a sufficient reason for reducing the amount he pays.

[unruliejulie]

I have to say, i think thats a little unfair on his ex wife. Its not really her, or her childrens problem that you have chosen to have a baby together. If you have another one, do you further reduce her maintenance? The fact that he has them stay over once a week is irrelevant. Its always difficult when a new family is involved, but the old one can't be pushed aside for that reason.I have been the ex wife and the new wife with a new family so i know how both parties feel however, he has a duty to support them and it was an agreed amount so he shouldn't just lessen it as and when he chooses..I don't think he has much of a leg to stand on basically.

[caz79]

He does actually have them three days of the week and once overnight and has only reduced it to cover one of the childs extra tuition he sends him to for reading.

[caz79]

They most definitely haven't been pushed aside and are very much our family

[unruliejulie]

i think they have to have them for 3 nights per week for it to make any difference. I'm sure thats the case.My ex has exactly the same amount of acess to my son, but he sleeps 2 nights per week. Maintenance is such a sore subject with a lot of ex couples. What is the difference he has been paying, if you don't mind me asking? Is it an amount worth causing a lot of bad feeling over? He sounds like a great Dad anyway and he obviously has your full support so if you feel it really is worth it, then go ahead and let her take you to court. It'll be tough though. and do you really need all this when you have just had a baby? I think maybe you should seek some advice from the CSA and see if you would be better off going through them, they will take all your circumstances into account. I wish you all the best with whichever course of action you decide to take.x

[Schlomo78]

Hi Caz, difficult situ, I wish you luck as am in a similar situation. If you use this link it will give you an idea of what the CSA will expect from your partner maintenence wise and you could always print it and show it to the ex if it is around the same figure you are paying her. Court is ridiculous and expensive when it can be resolved other ways so maybe this will help.

https://secureonline.dwp.gov.uk/csa/v1/new/calc.asp

:O)

[kazzianne]

your boyfriend seems a good dad - i have been trying for 4 years to get my ex to pay maintenance and the CSA hav enot got a penny out of him yet!! I give up!

[JustSia]

If your bf was paying through the CSA than you having a new baby would in fact lower his payments. However if the payments he is making now are voluntary and are lower than CSA would require him to make she is within her rights to put a claim through the CSA for the needed payments. It is up to you to contest it in Court. My advice would be to contact the CSA and see what they would ask him to pay. Another thing is the more overnights visits you have the lesser the payments.

S.

[awaw]

it needs to be sorted through the CSA ,they will decide how much he should be paying any other children he has will be taken into consideration.

but having said that my ex is supposed to pay me �260 a month which was set out in our divorce and only pays �100(when he can be bothered) a month and the CSA have been as useful as a pair of sunglasses on a man with one ear.