# Actual cost of child maintenance



## Poormans (23 Jul 2013)

I came on here looking for advice on child maintenance but am dismayed at a lot of the opinions here. I earn just about 45K a year and I have one child which I am paying €100 per week to their mother. I see some people saying that they pay €100 a week for one child, like myself, and others saying to them that this is not that much. I dont understand this. I have not seen anyone post the actual cost of paying child maintenance for the payer. @ €100 per week that is about €434 per month.

At current tax rates, if my employer wanted to give me a net salary increase of €434 they would have to increase my gross salary by about €1000. 

So in my view paying €434 net to someone is equivalent to them earning an extra €1000 per month in todays economy. 

Is this correct? If so is that not a huge amount to be paying for one child when there is not tax claims allowed on child maintenance?


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## SarahMc (23 Jul 2013)

Your maintenance sounds about right. Are you suggesting that child maintenance be tax deductible at the higher rate?


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## JoeRoberts (23 Jul 2013)

I thought maintenance if under a legally binding agreement was tax deductible as a charge ?


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## Done (23 Jul 2013)

*The cost of care - for what it's worth*

In a separation situation I don't have very well developed ideas about how one can come to a fair/reasonable figure for child maintenance.  It is of course very difficult to put monetary value on care but it has been done - It costs 700- 1,200 a month for full time (40 hours pw) creche care.


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## SarahMc (24 Jul 2013)

JoeRoberts said:


> I thought maintenance if under a legally binding agreement was tax deductible as a charge ?



Only spousal maintenance, not child maintenance, which is neither tax deductible or taxable as income. Both parents can claim single parent tax credits.


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## Poormans (24 Jul 2013)

SarahMc said:


> Your maintenance sounds about right. Are you suggesting that child maintenance be tax deductible at the higher rate?



Not at all Sarah. I'm only talking about the actual cost of child maintenance. I do think it should be tax deductible but that wasn't my point. I wanted to show what the cost of it is to the payer. People see the figure of €434 a month and think that is the cost of it, but that €434 has had tax paid on it before the payee receives it. 

I also used to be the single parent when my child was younger for almost 2 years while his mother finished university. So I know both sides. In that time I did not receive maintenance but the extra cost of having my child for those two years did not cost €1000 a month or even a quarter of that.

A symptom of today's economy, I found it ironic that now the child's other parent has secured a mortgage specifically because of these payments, because they are guaranteed, yet one of the main reasons I cannot secure the mortgage I need is because I am making those payments. The reason I mention this is because the broker was the one who pointed out the cost of the maintenance.

@Done Just to respond to the creche point, in my case my mother takes care of the child while the mother is at work. The child in on summer holidays now and the childs mother has asked that my mother keep the child with her day and night, Mondays to Fridays for the summer, because she is very busy. She is also not paying my mother anything. In this case, should I still be paying her maintenance when she is not the one maintaining the child?


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## dereko1969 (24 Jul 2013)

If your mother is minding the child monday-friday then you should be reducing your maintenance for that period or else tell your mother not to mind the child, though obviously that would have a negative impact on your relationship with all of them.


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## Poormans (24 Jul 2013)

That was more of a hypothetical question Derek. I would hesitate in changing the existing agreement. Its a verbal agreement and the threat of changing it could lead to a more expensive legal aggreement. Instead I would suggest to the mother that she give my mother money or ask my mother to ask for money, at least to cover the expense of food.


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## Joe_90 (24 Jul 2013)

@poormans, you need to compare the situation to 2 parents providing for a child.  Why should your contributions to bringing up your child qualify and others not?

Anyway to your original point, €100 per week is €5,200 per annum multiply by 2 x 21 = €218,400 to the age of 21.

http://www.independent.ie/business/...dren-can-be-extremely-expensive-26514758.html


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## Poormans (6 Aug 2013)

nm


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## Poormans (15 Oct 2013)

> Budget 2014 -Single Parents
> -The tax relief credits will be changed from the One Parent Tax Credit to a Single Person Child Carer Tax Credit. Only the primary carer, rather than both single parents, will be able to claim the credit which is of equal value to what it is replacing.



Yay, the cost of maintenance goes up even more. Single fathers (and some mothers) get the raw deal once again. At least its not a fight to the death situation since there are an uneven number of days in the week so those of us on the 3 days get nothing while the "primary carers" on the 4 days get the tax credit. Nice.


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