Child Support vs Maintenance Pending Suit

I am currently paying rent & bills for my ex as part of an arrangement reached at court. I have also agreed to pay other money as maintenance pending suit.

I had been assuming that this was also for child maintenance but now I have been hit with a CMS application and CMS are saying that these other payments are "spousal maintenance" and don''t count. Apparently if I was paying mortgage on a house she is living in that would count but rent does not.

Surely that can''t be right? If so then my ex will be getting 50% of my net income as spousal maintenance plus another 20% as child support.

And I might as well quit my job - I''d get more that way!

Did you take legal advice? Unfortunately the CMS are correct and their rules don''t allow them to count the other payments unless it is for a mortgage. You would need to get your ex to agree to reduce the payments agreed in court or ask the court to vary the amount. Alternatively you can push on to settle finances so maintenance pending suit ends as soon as possible.

I dont believe that is right.
Are you a high earner?
What you are paying now? Is that on par with what you would be paying via CSA?
What was the wording of the order?

Paying the mortgage counts as child support as it goes towards housing your children- in my case the mortgage on the family home was more than CSA guidelines

somuch2know2, I think you have misread. Man38 is paying the *rent* rather than a mortgage. Under CMS rules the non resident parent can apply of a variation to the intitial calculation on the basis of special expenses. Certain loans and mortgages qualify but not rent. See r14 Child Support (Variations) Regulations.


www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/156/regulation/14/made

Firstly yes I am a high earner. I am beginning to wish that I wasn''t - the general attitude from everyone seems to be that because I am a high earner I can always afford to pay a bit more - even though I am now paying over half of what I earn to for my ex which makes her richer than me!

Secondly, yes I had legal advice but it was never pointed out that these payments didn''t count as child support and that I was vulnerable to a subsequent claim being made.

Early in proceedings my ex applied for an occupation order and received an order which excludes me from the house and requires me to pay all rent and bills. This order appears to have no end date (also not pointed out to me). Is there any way I can get it amended or dismissed?