Maintenance Increase On Divorce

I am in the process of applying for a divorce having been judicially separated almost 6 years.

I have 4 children, 3 in second level and one in primary. I work part time in education earning circa 1975 pm after tax, have 280 pm from children's allowances and get 1825 pm child maintenance with CPI from my ex husband, so have about almost 4100 pm after tax income. I have the usual expenses of young family which have gone up quite a bit over time as the kids get older. I do not have a mortgage thankfully , my mother helps with childcare.

My kids are in non-fee paying schools but there are the usual education expenses of "free education". There is a fund for children's future education current valued at €44,500 which is held jointly in AIB. My ex husband earns circa 7000 pm after tax, lives alone and has a mortgage in his new home of 550pm, so quite clearly has good disposable income.

I am seeking to up the maintenance on divorce application as the kids have got more expensive over time. My husband is resisting this and says we made a full and final settlement. I have limited savings. I have already consulted with a solicitor who does divorce work. I am just wondering what a judge would consider "reasonable maintenance" in the above circumstances as I feel I have a reasonable case for an increase in child maintenance as the kids are now a lot older since the original judicial separation.

Devil's advocate here...

Are you struggling to cover the childcare expenses? Is there strong grounds that you can demonstrate that you need additional child maintenance from your ex? What sort of level of additional maintenance are you thinking of? Are you considering it a final figure or one that would have to adjust with the children growing up?

Your after tax you have calculated at 4100pm, your ex's at €7000pm. However, I am guessing that is €7000pm before maintenance and mortgage so a fairer comparative figure for your ex is less than €5000pm - as you don't have a mortgage or rent to pay and you have some low-cost childcare you can avail of.

Should your child benefit not total €560?

What increased expenses have there been since the separation agreement? You will likely need to itemise these if you're to get additional maintenance. Focussing on your ex-husband's income and expenses is not appropriate or useful, you need to set out what increases in costs there have been that he has not met or that are not being met through the current agreed amounts.

" full and final settlement. "

Apart from the actual figures- is the above correct?

Technically, you can't do a full and final settlement as regards maintenance but, if there were other factors e.g. transfer of a property mortgage free? that might be persuasive.

Best to talk to a family law solicitor who can review the agreement made.

mf

Thank you both for your responses. My ex's income is about 7100 pm before his maintenance and mortgage so yes his income after these is circa €4700 ish which I believe is a good income for a single man. Most but not all of the childcare is done by my family. The children's allowance drops to 280 pm over the next year. For example the kids education expenses have gone up quite a bit compared to primary and 3 of them have mobile phones like all teenagers

Sorry MF the separation agreement from 6 years ago in court says words to the effect "full and final settlement", "only orders to be sought on divorce are a divorce order". However that is 6 years ago and the kids are older and more expensive.

Sorry MF the separation agreement from 6 years ago in court says words to the effect "full and final settlement", "only orders to be sought on divorce are a divorce order". This is at the top of the judicial separation document. However that is 6 years ago and the kids are older and more expensive. I have spoken with a family law solicitor but they didn't give me a clear answer on the maintenance, said the decisions of courts on this can be variable. So I have about 4100 pm with myself and 4 kids, versus ex has about 4700pm after mortgage / maintenance and he has just himself to maintain.

"but, if there were other factors e.g. transfer of a property mortgage free? "

mf

dereko1969 said:

Should your child benefit not total €560?

What increased expenses have there been since the separation agreement? You will likely need to itemise these if you're to get additional maintenance. Focussing on your ex-husband's income and expenses is not appropriate or useful, you need to set out what increases in costs there have been that he has not met or that are not being met through the current agreed amounts.

Click to expand...

I think you need to focus on this.

Sorry I hope I'm not being argumentative here but I thought the courts looked at the disposable income of both parties, and my ex's has gone up quite a bit since the separation. Would it be realistic that a court would put the maintenance up to say 2000 pm or 2200 pm that's what I hand in mind and I consider fair.

dublinwoman72 said:

However that is 6 years ago and the kids are older and more expensive.

Click to expand...

This seems to be one of your main reasons to look for an increase. However this would have been predictable and obvious at the time of the settlement. Hardly grounds to seek to change the settlement now.

From 1850 to 2000-2200 so 150 - 350 per month extra is all you are seeking? Is it worth the hassal?!

dublinwoman72 said:

My ex husband earns circa 7000 pm after tax, lives alone and has a mortgage in his new home of 550pm, so quite clearly has good disposable income.

Click to expand...

Not having a go here but how do you know this for certain ? Even more important, can you prove it to the court ?

Would the increase justify the solicitors fees involved on both sides? Also not having a go, but is there a chance that you could be told as the kids are getting older there is no reason you can’t return to full time employment thereby increasing your own earnings and amount of money available - and depending on the ages of the kids would another scenario also be that they’re old enough for part time jobs to contribute towards their discretionary spending

Thank you for your replies. One of the children has a medical condition that prevents me upping my hours.

I am with some of the above posters. Life is too short to drag all this up again and create more bad feeling for the sake of 200 Euro a month. You want to have some good will for some day if a financial emergency was to arise you could call on your ex.. You should be comfortably able to live on 4100 after tax especially with no mortgage excluding exception items which I assume you can discuss with your ex as they arise. Your ex would need to be on approx 150K gross to take home the figure you mentioned. While possible you'd want to be reasonably sure this is accurate.

Thank you for your opinion. Sorry I have 4100 per month net income for myself and four kids so that is not an income of €150K gross per annum

4100÷.6(approx tax)×12= €82,000. Thats a decent salary whilst not having a mortg to pay. Just because your ex might earn €150,000 gross per yr i dont think that entitles you to his income.

Thank you for all your opinions but I feel quite strongly about this and I am doing this for my children’s future welfare one of whom is ill. Am I eligible for legal aid with an after tax income from work of about 22k per year / 4 children? Is maintenance factored into my eligibility for legal aid?

Just to add I have almost no savings

dublinwoman72 said:

Thank you for all your opinions but I feel quite strongly about this and I am doing this for my children’s future welfare one of whom is ill. Am I eligible for legal aid with an after tax income from work of about 22k per year / 4 children? Is maintenance factored into my eligibility for legal aid?

Click to expand...

I don’t doubt your good intentions but just to add as a child of parents who are divorced and argued over money for 15 years, ending in the fact that they can’t be in the same room together - that has also a big impact on child welfare, just another aspect to consider