Child Maintenance if child moves out of FMH

Dear Wiki,

My husband has two sons of 21 and 18 who live with his Ex in FMH.

His sons want to move into his Flat. The oldest one works and the youngest is at HE college until June 2012.

My husband pays maintenance of £980 per month to his Ex as ordered by the Consent Order from December 2008. £500 is child maintenance until his youngest finishes college and £480 is Spousal Maintenance on a Joint Lives Order basis, until his ex re-marries or dies. Once his son leaves college the spousal maintenance will be £8000 per annum (£666 per month).
His ex was also given the 100% of the 5 Bedroom FMH worth about £240 thousand, but no pension sharing order or other benefits.


If his youngest son moves into his Flat can he pay the child maintenance directly to his son and pay his ex just £480 spousal maintenance?

He wants to support his son whilst at college but cannot afford to pay him if he still has to pay his ex £980 per month.

My husband has no contact with his ex and there divorce was very bitter. She will not like their sons moving into his flat and will suffer financially if she loses the child maintenance. She will also lose family tax credits and child benefit?

Can she take him back to court to get more spousal maintenance since he will still be paying for his son. Is she likley to succeed? She will then be living in a 5 bedroom house on her own?

Does anyone have any experience of this sort of situation?

Many Thanks:)

She won't get family tax credits or child benefit for children at university (I assume that this is what you mean by HE college) or at work. If the court order says he must pay her, then legally he has to do that, unless he can get her to agree that he pays the money directly to his son. So really he should start off by trying to get that agreement. She may have been intending to pass the money straight over, you never know.

I assume that the flat is not where you and your husband are living, but a flat that he rents out. If it is, he will presumably be supporting both sons by not charging them rent, as well.

Best wishes,
Sadie

Hi sadie,

Thanks for your post.

My husbands flat is rented out at present. We live in my house that I got in my divorce with my two children on 16 and 14.

There is no way she would agree to pay the money over as she would be too annoyed that they had moved into his flat. Also she could probably not afford to stay in the FMH without the child maintenance or other tax benefits as she does not earn very much.

His youngest son is doing a diploma at Higher Education college, not a degree at university.

He will pay the mortgage on the flat and they will pay the bills and he would give his youngest son money to live on.

If he still has to pay her the full amount then he cannot help his sons by paying the mortgage with living expenses as well.

He is just trying to help them get some independance but with a safety net.

Cheers.
Saabgirl:)

I think that your husband would be better off keeping receiving the rent on the flat from a third party and that way he could keep paying his ex wife the child maintenance,
Putting his son in that flat and losing the rental income on it and then telling his ex he can't afford the cm,whilst pulling the son away from her.As a woman put yourself in her position which that is the scenario,You'd go mental.Be calling him a devious twxt who is manipulating his son to stop paying you.
Sounds like the £666 spousal would kick in at the very minimum to me.That's gotta be the most appropriate figure ever to define spousal maintenance.
Anyway try and see it from her perspective.She ain't gonna be happy.
All the best
Pete xx

Surely the child support is only payable when the child lives with that parent? You wouldnt carry on paying cm for a child who has left home.

Can I ask how she managed to get the whole 5 bed house and such generous maintenance?

When there is a court order if circumstances change the order needs to be varied rather than someone taking the law into their own hands.

The difficulty is that although a court would most certainly stop CM the amount of spouse maintenance can be varied to take into account children leaving home. An application for SM variation would take into account both parties' financial circumstances afresh and the income of the ex-wife would be reduced with the end of CM, CB and tax credits so her income needs could increase. Any increase in the ex-husband's income due to promotion as well as annual pay rises since the time of the order also increases his ability to pay. On the other hand any obligation to maintain the children will decrease his ability to pay so it may balance out.

There are no certainties in family law, just probabilities. Unless spouses agree between themselves applying to court for a variation is time consuming and costly. It's often necessary to take a judgment on what benefit can be gained, at what cost and over what period of time.

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.

It was the difference in income that enabled hid ex to get the whole house and spousal maintenance.
The judge siad there were not enough other assets to split the ownership of the house, he had a falt he had bought with a small deposit and therefore his needs were met and that he would be able to rebuild the equity he had lost because of his good earnings. She got 85% of the marital assets, but none of his flat and no pension sharing order or other benefits.
We think she purposefully kept on working part time so that her income would be low less than 10 thousand. Were as my husbands income was 8 times that, but had only been about 50 when he left, but they assessed the maintenance on his income at the time of the court proceedings.
We thought they might make her sell the house
as it is 5 bedrooms(standard victorian terrace house with attic converted into two bedrooms).
At the fianncial hearing it was a case of damage limitation. My husband was devestated that he had a joint lives order against him, it really feels like a life-sentnece.

She also spent at least fifteen thousand on the divorce, all the money she had secretly saved whilst they were married and did not declare on her form E, but by the time he got the evidence that it had existed she had paid it all to the solicitors so it could not be purseud. Her soliciotrs took the money knowing she had lied on her form E about its existence! British justice for yoyu
This is more annoying becuase she had a long term boyfreind of 4 years who took her on several foreign holidays a year and after the hearing bought her a new car for her fithtieth birthday, but they are not cohabiting.
We think she now works full time but her income is probably not that great.
We hope that when the boys are no longer at home and she loses tax benefits that she will sell the house as she will find it difficault to afford it with the drop in maintenance.
Surely a court would not expect my husband to support her to a greater extent if she is living alone in a five bedroom house?

Anyway we just have to live with it and hope some day she re-marries or we have the evdience of co-habitation to get the order changed.

Thanks.


saabgirl:)