Divorced but financial separation not pursued

[dan24]

First post here so thank you for help on this.

I separated from my wife January 22 and filed for no fault divorce in April 23 which was granted in Jan 23.
We agreed our finances together and all my ex wife wanted was half of the equity in the home which was £80k- the property was valued by the mortgage company as I needed to remortgage to give her the money. I also gave her say £5k for the furniture at the home.
I have a business and own a property which the business operates from. Equity there is around £100k but she said from the start that she didn't want anything from the business as i had built that up from scratch. The business is worth say £200k-£300k and owes me say £50k.
I have a pension pot worth say £80k and earn approx £100k a year.
We agreed that I pay £650 per month to her until the kids finish school. I have 3 children.
I pay for half of clothes, hobbies and school dinners etc.
I have them 3 nights per week.

She earns say £30k and gets the child benefit plus a small amount of tax credits.
My question is, if she went to the csa, would I really need to pay over £1,000 per month eventhough we have agreed and I pay for half of everything for them already?
Also, would the court make me find a lot more money to pay her eventhough I don't physically have that money?
I didn;t pursue the financial clean break as thought that the courts would feel this unfair.

 

[Resolute]

First post here so thank you for help on this.

I separated from my wife January 22 and filed for no fault divorce in April 23 which was granted in Jan 23.
We agreed our finances together and all my ex wife wanted was half of the equity in the home which was £80k- the property was valued by the mortgage company as I needed to remortgage to give her the money. I also gave her say £5k for the furniture at the home.
I have a business and own a property which the business operates from. Equity there is around £100k but she said from the start that she didn't want anything from the business as i had built that up from scratch. The business is worth say £200k-£300k and owes me say £50k.
I have a pension pot worth say £80k and earn approx £100k a year.
We agreed that I pay £650 per month to her until the kids finish school. I have 3 children.
I pay for half of clothes, hobbies and school dinners etc.
I have them 3 nights per week.

She earns say £30k and gets the child benefit plus a small amount of tax credits.
My question is, if she went to the csa, would I really need to pay over £1,000 per month eventhough we have agreed and I pay for half of everything for them already?
Also, would the court make me find a lot more money to pay her eventhough I don't physically have that money?
I didn;t pursue the financial clean break as thought that the courts would feel this unfair.

Bumping this!

 

[Ash]

Child maintenance is separate from divorce finances. If, as part of the divorce, an amount was agreed for Child Maintenance, then that lasts a year (I believe - that used to be the case). After that either of you can apply to the CMS for an assessment. If she hasn't done so then just sit tight.

The court wouldn't have anything to do with it - it would purely be a CMS calculation based on your gross earnings. However, if she did that, and you had to pay more, then you stop paying for half of everything else and only pay the CMS amount.

At the moment it sounds like you have what the CMS call a "family based arrangement" whereby you pay a certain agreed amount, plus extras (eg half clothing etc). They wouldn't want to change that unless the ex asks for you to be assessed.

You can check the CMS assessment yourself here

Calculate your child maintenance

Use this calculator to work out an amount of child maintenance for your children.

www.gov.uk

 

[madwelder89]

Child maintenance is separate from divorce finances. If, as part of the divorce, an amount was agreed for Child Maintenance, then that lasts a year (I believe - that used to be the case). After that either of you can apply to the CMS for an assessment. If she hasn't done so then just sit tight.

Hi Ash, my experience in real time is that the wording has to be exact and the Court Order needs to be personally signed by a judge for CMS to enforce it. I am currently fighting this though as it is ridiculous - watch this space...