What is covered by maintenance?

Atamiri

Hi, I’d like to ask: What’s covered by maintenance? We have a ~40/60 shared custody, I pay €100/week and my ex sends me bills for everything including all clothes and shoes to pay 50% of the price. I’m asking out of curiosity, it’s not a big problem for me at the moment, I don’t have any financial problems (and neither does my ex as she can afford to go on vacation and buys expensive toys and clothes), I’m just wondering whether this is normal.

Madd002

If she is sending 50% for clothes/shoes ask for receipts and enquire is that after children's allowance was used as she would be in receipt of that not the father. €140 per child each month, think its higher for 3rd child. Also this year for primary school children all books etc free this year, only colours pencil case need to be bought. If she qualifies for back to school allowance its more than enough to cover uniform shoes just an FYI.

FishOnABike

As the primary carer she would also be eligible for the Single Person Child Carer Credit of €1,650 and an increase of €4,000 in the standard rate tax band.

feelings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058304671/what-is-covered-by-maintenance

Is this court ordered or is this an agreement between you both?

Atamiri

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120841572#Comment_120841572

It's court ordered but we agreed on the sum before the court hearing.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120839475#Comment_120839475

That's if she is not cohabitating and is working.

If she is not, the n the OP should be claiming the tax credit (if he is working and also not cohabitating).

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058304671/what-is-covered-by-maintenance

Does the maintenance order say €100 per week , or €100 per week + 50% of other costs?

Technically Atamiri, it is usually preferable if weekly / monthly maintenance is calculated as an all inclusive amount covering all the basics, (including clothes) instead of doing the receipt swap thing. And yes, the value of child benefit and the tax credit (if applicable) should also factored into the calculations.

Does she ask you before she buys expensive shoes or clothing? If not, she should - especially if she expects to present you with a bill for half. You could reasonably refuse to cover expenditure she does not consult you on first.

(And avoiding those arguments is exactly why an all-inclusive payment is better).

Senature

If you are paying €100 per week and your child is with you 40% of the time I think you should only be paying for other exceptional expenses.

By this I mean private school or creche fees, or exceptional or ongoing health, dental or optical expenses. Also pre-agreed amounts if you are doing joint birthday and Christmas presents.

What do you think the €100 is for? By your op, your ex has your child 1.5 days per week more than you. Off the top of my head €30 would probably cover food, bills, transport etc for those days. That leaves €70 for your contribution to clothes, shoes, activities, toys, pencils, copybooks etc... your ex should also be contributing her own money to these expenses. I presume she collects the children's allowance so she has that towards the child's expenses too.

I would also argue that the longer this goes on, the harder it will be for you to change it. You might think it's fine at the moment, but if you have more children, or your circumstances change, you will probably change your mind.

Atamiri

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120843227#Comment_120843227

No, she doesn’t ask, she just sends the bills. The order says “50% of all reasonable net vouched educational, back to school, uninsured necessary medical, optical and dental expenses”.

Atamiri

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120843968#Comment_120843968

Yes, she collects the child allowance (which is €280/month since last autumn if I’m not mistaken as the government has doubled it as an exceptional measure).

My solicitor said the reasoning was that I earn more that she does (which was true before October 2023) and I respect that. I don’t know where she works now, our son says she’s at home all day but he’s only 5 so I don’t take this as hard evidence. I don’t even know whether she has a valid Stamp 4, it was based on our de-facto partnership so it might have been revoked and since we were not married and our son doesn’t have Irish citizenship she might have problems with her permission (that’s why I had offered help with this and contacted an immigration lawyer to find a solution for her last September but she refused to talk to him).

Big Bag of Chips

The Child Benefit was not doubled. A once off double payment was given to parents in June to help with the rising cost of living. Instead of thinking what should your maintenance cover you should be thinking what can you reasonably afford to pay towards your child. I am not separated. I live in a 2 income household and a very large portion of our income goes on our children. Not just feeding and clothing them. They do a lot of activities, that are expensive. If we were separated and I was working within a set maintenance figure then my children would not be doing a quarter of what they actually do.

So you need to try discuss with your ex what the expenses are per month and what is needed to cover them. €100 a week seems very reasonable, but we don't know what expenses are being incurred.

Atamiri

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120853658#Comment_120853658

Sure, I’m paying more than the maintenance such as our son’s football classes, Funkey monkeys subscription or when there was an event in his crèche (e.g. Christmas party, birthday party, Halloween costumes) but this was all agreed beforehand.