Maintenance seems very high?

Can anyone help? I currently pay £450 a month for my 2 children. I have them overnight 3 nights a week. For the sake of 2 nights a month that would equal shared care, this seems disproportionate. It is quite crippling, as i pay for clothes, meals etc the days they are with me. Is this set to change at all with the reforms?

Have you been on the online calculator - you can work the figure out yourself on there? Is the payment through CSA or a private arrangement? I would work the figure out on the calculator and see what figure you come up with - it lets you put nights that children spend with you down and adjusts the figure accordingly. There maybe one on this site I don''t know but gov.uk have one if not. All the Best.

That is indeed the figure from their own calculator. In fact if I had them 50% of the time I would still apparently have to pay £85 a week. It''s strange.

It does seem strange but I think it''s based on your net weekly income? If it is a private arrangement - could you speak to you ex and ask for a little reduction as you are buying things for them also? She would probably say no though - guess it depends how amicable things are? Hope you can sort something out.

Yes, my income is fairly high, but obviously so are outgoings- work travel, house rental, new wife and children and a load of marital debt from the ex. I just can''t believe I still have to pay that whilst sharing the children. It seems very unfair.

You''re right it doesn''t seem fair - and you seem like a decent caring father - unlike my ex who is a high earner and thinks he doesn''t have to pay anything - hence i now get it by a deduction of earnings through the CSA.
I''m not sure of the ages of your children from what you''ve said they sound young but maybe in time when they''re older you could pay them direct - it doesn''t help the situation now - and I don''t suppose there''s much you can do unless your ex agrees to a reduced payment.

Under the new scheme 50/50 share would mean no cm payable. You are in the difficult position of nearly have 50/50 but not actually.

Personally I think each parent should work out a % of income and that is then split in the ratio of child contact. This would make both sides realise that the costs need to be shared fairly.