Can she do this?

Hi
Im wondering if somebody can please help with this problem i have.

I am engaged to a divorced father of 3 who has regular contact and always has done. He has paid his maintenance every month as agreed and if possible helped his ex out when she needed with regards having this children when she works etc and costs towards trips etc when he has had the money.

To cut a long story short, he lost his job recently and due to the court order being several years old, consulted the CAB and lowered the payments according to his new income which of course the ex-wife did not like.

She has now come back to him insisting he has the children during the school holidays and more during the week as he is not paying her enough to afford them all week. Am i right in thinking this is her just trying her luck as obviously he is trying to locate more work and he is still paying more than the CSA reccommends. We are more than happy to have the children when work allows but due to our own money worries and work issues it cant be to the amount she is insisting on.

Do we have to agree or not?
Thanks

As I understand it contact and child support are dealt with seperately and the only relevance to each other is that the amount of child support due is dependant on the time the non-resident parent has the children. You should use the child maintenance calculator on the child support agency website to see if having the children when she suggests would reduce the child support your fiance would pay. I would suggest that this is probably the case and that if you let his ex know this then she will back down. The contact arrangements can only be changed if both parties agree but obviously it is better for the children if this can be sorted. Good luck with this.

Mike

child contact and money are completely seperate.
you are right in your assumptions, she is just annoyed and also annoyed you are engaged, its all part of the reactions game.........

she can't force him, no-one can force a parent to see more of their children.

Sorry to hear about your partner's redundancy. I hope he finds another position soon, in the meantime, whilst he is searching for work, he could use this time to spend some more time with his kids, which he, the children and his ex may all benefit from.

seems win/win to me?