Child support after a clean break divorce

Hello,

I have now been divorced for nearly 5 years and it is very amicable. However, the thing we do occasionally come to blows with is money. The dad is generally good with getting stuff for the kids and he has them for nearly half the time.

I struggle as I earn a much lower salary than he does. If I ever mention it he throws back how I got the house and he now has a huge mortgage (I do too) and that I should be very comfortable and gratefule that he left me in that position

It's always around my daughters needs and rarely around my son. She is nearly 17 and i like a lot of teenage girls, bleeding us dry lol! I suggested we come to a financial arrangement and pay her a clothing allowance as well as pocket money. At present she just gets what she wants when she wants! I also suggested he pays more than me as he earns more. I think this should be the case anyway.


I don't want to take any official route but have had a massive bust up today and i just need something official in place, i know i could get substantially more if i went down the official routes but as we have a really good relationship on the whole i don't want to do that if possible.

has anyone been in a similar situation?

many thanks

The official route would be to open a case with the child maintenance Service, where he would be assessed on his gross income, with deductions made for the number of overnights the children have with him. The amount calculated would be the statutory amount he is obliged to pay,and he's not obliged to pay a penny more than the calculated amount. Doing this may cause more problems than it's worth.

If the problem isn't so much that he's not contributing - and it sounds as though he is, and the problem is really your daughter's spending and requests for money, which is an entirely different matter. There is a lots of budgeting info for young people available on line, like this one - How to teach teenagers about money . learning to live within one's means is a very valuable life lesson to learn that will stand them in good stead throughout life.