Hello Alene
It is every parents’ responsibility to provide maintenance for their children, so you would have a valid claim. Your income is not taken into account when calculating maintenance.
There are various different ways that
child maintenance can be set up. The Child Maintenance Service are the Government’s statutory maintenance service and they can calculate maintenance leaving parents to arrange payment between themselves, or collect payments and pay them to the receiving parent.
There is an Online Calculator on the Child Maintenance Options website,
www.cmoptions.org, which will give you an indication of the amount that the Government would consider to be reasonable for you to receive.
The Child Maintenance Service are just one option available to you to set up maintenance payments. The other options include the family-based arrangement. This is an agreement between the parents without the involvement of the Government or legal system. Although not legally enforceable, this type of arrangement does tend to work better and last longer than other options, as it is something that both parents have agreed to.
On the Child Maintenance Options website, there are lots of tools and information designed to help and support you in setting up a maintenance arrangement for your children.
Another option available is the Consent Order, which is an arrangement agreed through the courts.
For more details on all the available options and a more personalised service, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a web application, ‘Sorting out separation’. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is
www.wikivorce.com/divorce/Sorting-Out-Separation.html.
Regards
William
