# How is maintenance calculated?



## aoc (8 Jul 2013)

Are there any guidelines on how maintenance is calculated?
My ex. gives less than €50 per week - he will not contribute to the mortgage & I feel he should..... am i heading down a legal path???


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## mf1 (8 Jul 2013)

aoc said:


> Are there any guidelines on how maintenance is calculated?
> My ex. gives less than €50 per week - he will not contribute to the mortgage & I feel he should..... am i heading down a legal path???



Were you married? Co-habiting? 

Kids? How many? What ages? 

Whose name is on the mortgage? 

Is there a legal separation? (Only applies if you were married)

What are the assets, liabilities, income and outgoings ? 

There are a lot of issues to be taken into account. I think a consultation with a solicitor is in order to try and thrash out just some of the issues.

mf


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## aoc (11 Jul 2013)

Married

1 child - 13

both names

no, nothing in place.

do we both need to list assets  etc etc

I understand there are a lot of issues - my main point at the moment is should I have to pay all of the mortgage as I am living in the house??

We have kept it amicable until now - but everytime money is mentioned things go v wrong!!


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## Poormans (24 Jul 2013)

In the old days (60's 70's 80's) when a marriage broke down the mother usually kept the home and the mortgage was either divided between the two or paid by the man. This was because in that time a woman usually left the work place when she got married to raise a family. In most cases I have seen since the 90s. The person keeping the house pays off the person leaving the house, or buys them out. So if you have had a house together for 13 years and in those 13 years you both paid the mortgage equally then you will pay back what that person had paid and you take over the mortgage. Obviously every case is different but this is what I have seen over the years.


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## aoc (12 Aug 2013)

so - even if the house is in negative equity I have to pay him back half the mortgage payments for when we were together? surely this does not make sense....


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## SarahMc (12 Aug 2013)

No, ideally you come to some arrangement between you that you both see as fair(ish). If you are living in the house, and you both are working, or capable of working, it seems fair that you pay the mortgage, if maintenance is being paid.

I would advise mediation before going down the legal route.


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## aoc (12 Aug 2013)

its my preference to avoid the legal route - however €40 per week does not seem fair maintenance to me??? yes, we both work but i pay everything to do with the house and at the moment i dont have the money to go the legal route etc to get house into my name, so essentially he has the benefit of the house if something were to happen to me and has not been contributing in my eyes......


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