Hi everyone, interested to know if anyone has any previous experience with this please.
My ex wife and I share care for our 2 boys and the time between us is almost identical with the exception of a Sunday night on my weekend where I have to drop the boys back to their Mum at her insistence, even though they come back to me after school the next day. The split in a typical fortnight is therefore 6 nights with me and 8 nights with their Mum – were it not for the Sunday night drop off which I am enforced to do, it would be 7 nights each. As a result I am also forced to pay maintenance. This is in-spite of the fact that I earn less and have to provide everything for the boys when they’re with me, clothes, food etc. all expenses (school trips for example) are also split. If anything, I spend more time with the boys during the week as I have changed job and working pattern to be with them rather than use after and pre school clubs – where as their Mum has family and friends and uses clubs to support the boys.
Personally, I feel like I’m being charged to relinquish time with the boys on a Sunday night, cutting short our weekend purely for the benefit of their Mum. I totally agree that all parents should contribute but the CMS seems to be a blunt hammer that looks purely at nights spent in each home rather than the reality – any help, ideas, experience would be warmly welcomed. Thank you.
