Financial Agreement in Separation

Hi, my wife and I separated 6 months ago and agreed a monthly financial payment from me to her that was based on her staying in the marital home with largely the same standard of living. So, we accounted for all the bills, mortgage, insurance, fuel & food costs, ad-hoc costs for the kids, mobile phone bill, pocket money for her and a substantial slush fund (£300). This then gave a total amount that she would need. Once we deducted her salary, from working part-time only, and child benefit there was amount left that I agreed to pay = £1585 monthly. Since then, my wife has started to receive working & child tax credits (based upon advice from me) but has failed to disclose to me the amount she is receiving or the date that this started - i suspect that the payments started from January but were backdated to include December. From February she agreed to a £230 reduction without any discussion or pushing from me lowering my monthly payment to £1350. I am struggling to maintain this now and am not able to put any money aside to save for summer holidays etc. My wife has agreed to sit down and discuss this ongoing agreement with a view to renegotiating the amount. She has also agreed to disclose the amount of tax credits she is receiving although I haven''t see that yet. My question is, given that our agreement up to this point has been based on me ensuring that she is not in financial need, is it fair to expect that now the situation has changed (with the tax credits) that my contribution should also change to reflect this ?

You could find out what she is likely to be receiving at www.entitledto.co.uk

You don''t tell us much about your circumstances or income but to get £1585 a month tax free is a lot. She is hardly likely to want to voluntarily give it up.

My income is £3600 `net monthly. Her income is £1000 monthly plus the unknown tax credits amount plus child benefit.

I had similar. When I left the FMH i continued paying all the bills/direct debits and the same cash sum every month that i had paid when in the house. Then a few months later when the divorce papers came through and we exchanged financial disclosure I found that she had been receiving tax credits of £700 since I had left plus the child tax credits, which meant that together with her wages, me paying all the bills and the tax credits there was more disposable income going into the house than there had ever been whilst I was struggling to get by. If like in my case she has claimed declaring only her part time salary and not included any of your contributions to the FMH expenses you can expect the level of tax credits going in may be quite high.

Thanks very much for the response.

What i''m trying to get some impartial clarity on is whether or not it is fair that my ongoing contribution (non-tax credits) is now reduced by the tax credits amount being received by my wife ?

Given that we originally worked out exactly what she needed to maintain the house & the lifestyle, with my contribution making up the substantial shortfall, then is it right that my amount should decrease now that tax credits are in the equation in terms of her income ?

I am no expert, I am on here to receive advice rather than to give it tbh....

however I immediately stopped the cash payments and stuck to paying the DDs only, which are broadly in line with what I would be paying in child maintenance if it were to go to CMS (which in my case it may).

So my thoughts are (but not advice) that you are paying too much and you could reduce your payments in line with legal CM obligations. It could result in her making a formal application however if you feel that your new payments are in line with that then I would think it may be ok.

But let someone more qualified than me add to this....

Of course it''s fair and reasonable that the amount should decrease if she''s getting more money elsewhere and sounds like you''ve been more than fair and reasonable. How do you afford to live monthly?? I wish my ex had been reasonable like you!
Have you agreed how long you''re going to pay this amount for? You are setting a president for the future though. Usually she would be expected to maximise her income but if you''re giving her this amount of money she won''t need to!
Does this amount include child maintenance? I presume it does and hope you''ve taken some legal advice about paying this money and pointed out it includes CM - otherwise she could make a claim for it aswell??
You say you''ve worked out the amount she needs to maintain her lifestyle but what about yours and what about the future? When the house is eventually sold would you receive 50% of the profit or is this an ongoing arrangement?
It might be best to take legal advice on this matter - what would happen if she moved someone into the home would you still pay?? In my opinion you are being more than fair - I would imagine she''s very happy living the lifestyle she''s always been used to.