Reasonable Child Maintenance

D

Dairylea

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I’d appreciate a bit of input please. I’m due in court re child maintenance but I’m wondering what peoples opinion are on the rate that I should be asking for? Is this based on the fathers disposable income or is it based on how much it costs me at the moment to raise the child? Is it reasonable to ask the judge to set a fair amount or would that be frowned upon? As it stands the child’s father earns a large salary. More than I realised. Approx €8000 pm after tax. Expenses are €2000 pm and is currently paying €70 child maintenance per week.
 
Without seeing the full picture of both your finances, it's hard to be definitive, but from what you say, €70 seems very low from an after tax income of 8k p/month. The District Court can award up to €150 per week per child. (And 500pw in spousal maintenance.) To go above this to what might arguably be a more realistic figure, you would need to be in the Circuit Court rather than the District Court.

I presume you have a solicitor acting for you. S/he should be advising you in great detail on this.
 
Baby boomer said:
Without seeing the full picture of both your finances, it's hard to be definitive, but from what you say, €70 seems very low from an after tax income of 8k p/month. The District Court can award up to €150 per week per child. (And 500pw in spousal maintenance.) To go above this to what might arguably be a more realistic figure, you would need to be in the Circuit Court rather than the District Court.

I presume you have a solicitor acting for you. S/he should be advising you in great detail on this.
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Thanks Baby boomer

I didn’t have solicitor for this at first. The case has been delayed a few times due to Covid and again due him not having a statement of means with him. I do have a solicitor meeting later this week now though through legal aid. I’m currently full time mum
 
Dairylea said:
I’d appreciate a bit of input please. I’m due in court re child maintenance but I’m wondering what peoples opinion are on the rate that I should be asking for? Is this based on the fathers disposable income or is it based on how much it costs me at the moment to raise the child? Is it reasonable to ask the judge to set a fair amount or would that be frowned upon? As it stands the child’s father earns a large salary. More than I realised. Approx €8000 pm after tax. Expenses are €2000 pm and is currently paying €70 child maintenance per week.
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Is the father paying anything else towards the child? Is he contributing towards the mortgage or rent? Is he paying Health Insurance, school costs, pocket money etc? Does the child spend any time with their father?

If the answer is no to all of the above then €70 seems very low. If the answer is yes to any of the above then the answer to your question is "It depends".
 
Purple said:
Is the father paying anything else towards the child? Is he contributing towards the mortgage or rent? Is he paying Health Insurance, school costs, pocket money etc? Does the child spend any time with their father?

If the answer is no to all of the above then €70 seems very low. If the answer is yes to any of the above then the answer to your question is "It depends".
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Even if the answer to the highlighted question is "YES" it should make very little, if any, difference to the maintenance payable. Child costs reduce by very little because of an afternoon or even overnight access arrangement.

There is a practice in the UK whereby there's a virtually automatic deduction of 1/7th of the awarded maintenance for every night the child stays with the non-custodial parent. That's not the case here in Ireland.

But the other questions are very relevant to get a full picture.
 
Baby boomer said:
Even if the answer to the highlighted question is "YES" it should make very little, if any, difference to the maintenance payable. Child costs reduce by very little because of an afternoon or even overnight access arrangement.

There is a practice in the UK whereby there's a virtually automatic deduction of 1/7th of the awarded maintenance for every night the child stays with the non-custodial parent. That's not the case here in Ireland.

But the other questions are very relevant to get a full picture.
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If the child spends half their time with their father and he brings them on holidays and has to buy clothes and shoes for the child and provides meals and a home for the child when they are with him then yes, it is very relevant.
 
Purple said:
If the child spends half their time with their father and he brings them on holidays and has to buy clothes and shoes for the child and provides meals and a home for the child when they are with him then yes, it is very relevant.
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Agreed, yes, if the child spends half their time with one parent, that would be relevant. But not so with access visits where the child spends a day or two with one parent while the other pays for the clothes, shoes, school and medical expenses etc etc.
 
Baby boomer said:
Agreed, yes, if the child spends half their time with one parent, that would be relevant. But not so with access visits where the child spends a day or two with one parent while the other pays for the clothes, shoes, school and medical expenses etc etc.
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True, but that's not the norm.
 
This is where it gets into a bit of grey area. We were cohabitants and he moved out for a year after relationship ended but has now moved back into the spare room while we await court date for cohabitant redress. House belongs to him. Mortgage cleared during our relationship so there is no outstanding monthly payment but I’m aware that he does feel justified paying this amount of child maintenance because I’m living “rent free”. I buy the clothes, haircuts, food and daily costs. I pay the household bills. I do majority of the childcare even on his days off at the weekend. So far this year he has worked overseas for 9 weeks. He does not provide health insurance for child. He doesn’t bring child on holiday or weekend trips.
He does contribute half of any medical expenses and school book costs.
 
So he is providing accommodation, half school books and half medical, and €70 per week. You are providing overheads, food, half books and half medical, spending the €70 and you get free accommodation. Sounds fairly balanced.
 
Clamball said:
So he is providing accommodation, half school books and half medical, and €70 per week. You are providing overheads, food, half books and half medical, spending the €70 and you get free accommodation. Sounds fairly balanced.
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Free accommodation is the home we’ve both contributed to over the years but only his name on deeds. He’s looking for us to move out and him remain. He has specified that it will remain at €70 when we aren’t under the same roof. So it is a bit of a contraction as he is expecting us to move out. It’s “free”accommodation in his eyes but not in my eyes. He has other properties to live in. Myself and child don’t. We are homeless if we move out.
 
so what did your solicitor advise? If your circumstances change, and you move out then applying for different maintenance orders would be a good next step. If you can prove that he has €8000 pm income and owns several properties then I would think you have a fair chance of getting a complete package of support. But I am sure your ex partner will have good legal advice.

Stick to the facts. Say where you want to live and why (even if it is your current house). Give details of your expenditure, give details on how often the child is with you and with the father. Best of luck in court.
 
I didn’t get to see the solicitor re child maintenance yet. I misunderstood so last weeks appointment was actually with an admin just taking basic details and the payment.
The €8000pm has been given on his statement of means in his response to the cohabitation act which I received recently so I’ve no reason to doubt them and he has also included properties etc on this.
Yes he can afford good legal advice and I think he is trying for joint custody.
 
Dairylea said:
I didn’t get to see the solicitor re child maintenance yet. I misunderstood so last weeks appointment was actually with an admin just taking basic details and the payment.
The €8000pm has been given on his statement of means in his response to the cohabitation act which I received recently so I’ve no reason to doubt them and he has also included properties etc on this.
Yes he can afford good legal advice and I think he is trying for joint custody.
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Would there be a problem with joint custody - is it not better for the child to have both parents in their life.
 
My main concern is that there are control issues on his side. Like refusing to say when child would be returned or taking him out but refusing to say where or for how long. I’m told I do not need to know. Child’s welfare is my priority. Child would not want to live away from me. Father has spent a large chunk of child’s life working away from home which is also probably a factor in that too. But even when he wasn’t working away he had very little interest or time for the child. Has never bathed child, played sports, rarely takes child out. Only engaging with child now but showing aggression towards me in front of child when child wants to be with me. It’s a difficult one. Yes both parents should be involved but I don’t think 50/50 will be good for child and I’m concerned how difficult he would make my life.
 
I’m sorry to hear that, but equally this is AskAboutMoney, not AskAboutRelationships. What you’re saying may or may not be true, but you’re doing an anonymous one-sided hatchet job on your ex.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
I’m sorry to hear that, but equally this is AskAboutMoney, not AskAboutRelationships. What you’re saying may or may not be true, but you’re doing an anonymous one-sided hatchet job on your ex.
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C'mon now @Gordon Gekko , we all know money and relationships are intricately and intimately bound together! Problems in either area tend to spill over into the other. The OP originally posted a "money" question but it obviously has a relationship dimension as well. And it'll be hard to solve the money problem without at least addressing the relationship issue as well. Typically, these things don't tend to get "fixed" as such, but it's more likely that a sort of semi-amicable truce can be worked out that meets all needs.

A lot of people who post here are going to have problems / financial disputes with, for example, neighbours, landlords, tenants, employers, employees, service providers, customers and so on. We would expect people to present the situation as it appears to their point of view. That's naturally one-sided and usually anonymous and I don't really see a problem with it.
 
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