unmarried mothers in college

i have been at several "maintenance" hearings. In the first, I (foolishly) offered a sum that was accepted by the judge

At the second, I explained that Both of us were on Welfare at the time, and that although only haf of the money I gave her was taken off her welfare payment, the entire sum was deducted from her rent allowance ... this actually mean that for every €10 I gave her, she was WORSE OFF by €5 ...

This was confirmed by herself ...

The judge agreed that this was silly, and made an order for €0 per week.

the judge is there to look after the Kids, and to look after the individual(s) that otherwise have no source of income ... any effort to reduce the Social Welfare payments made to any party is a distant third place (but since it is based on the decision of a single judge, always be aware that you could get a judge that is having a bad day, or has a particular axe to gind).
 
Yes, so-crates is right. i used "delinquent" as he explains it, unconnected to father's occupation. As for the rest....

...Lets say she tells social welfare that she is getting €50 per week from the father as maintainence ....
It would be better to say "...Let's say she gets €50 per week from the father as maintenance"
...although she could state that the father is also a student with no income... as far as I've seen they don't look into this and just take your word for it...

It would be better to say "...although she should tell them that the father is a student with no income..."

That would have stopped any misinterpretation on my part...sorry if I took it up wrong.....
 

I think i got a judge on a bad day....took my x to court for money, he offered 80 euro and the judge said that sounded fair and asked me what i tought. I disagreed as i pay 202 for the crech a week and tought the whole point was he paid half of everything, half his child. the judge turned to me and said well its your choice to work, i was so annoyed i said to the judge " are you suggeting that i give up work and go back on the social welfare?" Gob smacked the judge agreed to 100 per week.
 
Are you aware that there is an (unofficial?) cap of €150 per week per child regardless of means on both sides ?

Unfortunately it really does come down to a particular judge's ruling in Ireland; there is no official guidelines (that I am aware of), and the fact that every ruling is "in camera" means that it is really hard to identify trends or any ability to argue precedent.

A solicitor might help ... but then last time I had a solicitor stand up in court for 5 minutes, it cost me €3,500 for the pleasure - so that doesn't make sense unless you either are in a grudge match with your ex, or you think that it will be worth it financially in the long run ...
 
Last post is not quite accurate; the maximum that can be awarded in a District Court is €150 per week per child - higher amounts can be (and are) awarded in the Circuit Court.

there is an excellent spreadsheet on www.solo.ie on calculating child maintenance. It's not necessary to use a Soltr.