# Child Maintanance



## torres09 (7 Aug 2008)

I have been paying maintanance for my two children since splitting from my wife,from whom i am now divorced.

At birthdays and christmas I do as every father does and occasionally during the year I buy them gifts also. I also give them there pocket money every week.

However, I have recently bought a house with my new partner and find things hard at the moment.

My ex wife has always asked for money towards school uniforms in August and clothes at Christmas, which I have helped with when I could.

I pay nearly 600 euro per month maintanace and can't afford anymore. She has now said she will get a solicitor and bring me to court. Does she have a case to get me to pay more maintanance? 

If i filled out a means test she would probably give me money at the moment! (joke,but true)...any help or advise would be most very much appreciated.


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## dazza21ie (7 Aug 2008)

If you are paying all that you can afford to pay it is unlikely a judge will order you to pay more. She can bring you to court but there is no guarantee that the judge will give her more money. Make sure that if you are completing a statement of means to include all of your expenditure and get a copy of hers when it becomes available to make sure she has everything listed e.g. maintenance payments, child benefit etc.


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## torres09 (11 Aug 2008)

thanks for the advise


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## Green (11 Aug 2008)

The Courts Service has, for the 1st time, given access to family law proceedings. Carol Coulter has produced some informative reports about how family law cases proceed and in some cases the settlements handed out in terms of seperation, divorce and maintenance. A link is attached...
[broken link removed]


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## heretohelp (11 Aug 2008)

dazza21ie said:


> If you are paying all that you can afford to pay it is unlikely a judge will order you to pay more. She can bring you to court but there is no guarantee that the judge will give her more money. Make sure that if you are completing a statement of means to include all of your expenditure and get a copy of hers when it becomes available to make sure she has everything listed e.g. maintenance payments, child benefit etc.


 not true, my partner was in court recently and we have two children ourselves and he has two from a previous relationship . our combined income is 346 per week and he was ordered to pay 100euro per week .

we take the children each week , do everything the op does and the judge didnt care .

we are now moving back in with his parents as we cant afford our rent , have to sell our car , our child has special needs and we can hardly afford nappies. 

so the judge will do whatever he wants .
on the other hand my partners ex has two houses receives his maintenance and maintenance from another ex for another child, has a new car . they were not married .

good luck op


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## crox225 (23 Aug 2008)

I agree, i am paying 80 euro per week for my son, who is 8 yrs old.  I went back to court last year on the advice of the court clerk, as i said i cant survive paying 80 per week, i was willing to pay 50/60 at a stretch.  I did a statement of means and didnt get my ex's statement until the day of the hearing, i represented myself and she had a solicitor who she worked for.  I proved to the court that i couldnt pay 80 every week and was using credit card to help me out. The judge just wasnt interested, even when i said i was surviving on 30 euro per week food bill..weetabix for days on end. The judge informed me that i was lucky that it wasnt increasing?? how the feck does it work, surely if you get caught speeding, you get a fixed penalty, dont matter if your earing 50 per week or 5 million per week, its the same.  Child maintenance should be the same, I know that some parents dont pay anything and give payers a bad name, however, it has to be a realistic sum that people can pay.  My ex now has a huge house, 2 cars, another baby and has money coming out of her ears, while i still struggle...just doesnt seem right somehow.


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## Thirsty (26 Aug 2008)

> ..if you get caught speeding, you get a fixed penalty......child maintenance should be the same...


 
Having a child isn't an offence...

Maintenance is based on both parties income and expenditure; have a look at www.solo.ie for a good spreadsheet on how to estimate child maintenance.


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## paulacadwell (25 Oct 2008)

maintanance depends on ur wages and mortgage etc so €600 seems a hell of a lot! I recieve €30 a week from my babies father and its not al all helpful. let her take you to court, if your struggling it might even be reduced.


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## ramble (26 Oct 2008)

Do you have any idea how much it costs to look after a child?  The child/children are your responsibilty whether you like it or not.  Ask the custodial parent to give you an account of how much money is spent on the child per month/week, the affidavits of means because they follow a set format can be hard to extract information from.  If  you had custody of the child and had to look after him/her how much would it cost you and how would you cope?


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## Stifster (26 Oct 2008)

I've acted on both sides of such claims, it varied from court district to court district as to what the judge will do, what amazes me now, as father of two nippers, is how, most of the time, very little attention is paid by the judge to the actual cost of raising a child. The more the dad earns the more he pays. Simple as that.

They also don't seem to take into account what the dad spends when he has access.


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## Thirsty (26 Oct 2008)

> The more the dad earns the more he pays


 
If the couple were still married then the children of that marriage would benefit from the parents income; the same holds true where the parents are no longer married.


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## csirl (28 Oct 2008)

> However, I have recently bought a house with my new partner and find things hard at the moment.


 
This may be the reason that a judge wont listen to your argument that you cant pay. You bought the house AFTER already knowing that you had child maintenance outgoings at a certain rate. The argument made against you will be why did you buy a house if you cant afford it - this is not your childs fault, so your child should not lose out as a result.


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