Child Maintenance advice

My ex-wife has proposed I pay her a ‘one off payment’ instead of me paying my monthly child maintenance. We have a consent order which has been in place for the last 3 years. The reason she has suggested this is that I’m about to retire and my financial earnings will drop as I will be living off my pension. Can this be done legally and if so how would I go about it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Don't do it. Child maintenance should only be paid from income. You can only afford to pay what you can afford to pay if your income drops and there is a formula for calculating it. Your ex wife may not like this but if your income drops there is no good reason why she should be insured against the consequences at your expense. Your income is what it is.

Thank you Mr Terry for the prompt advice as always.

Best regards.

The saga of this continues!

My ex-wife is unhappy that I won't go for the lump sum option and is refusing to accept my offer of child maintenance in line with my reduced income. I have used the CMS calculator and even offered her slightly more than I would be due to pay each month. I have also pointed out if we go via CMS I will pay 20% extra and she will be deducted 4% but she still won't change her mind.

My question is - as the party who won’t agree, should she be the one to be contacting the CMS and paying the £20 registration fee? Also, if I continue to pay my ex direct what I'm due on the CMS calculator what will the CMS if I don't pay via them?

Thanks for any advice

>>My ex-wife is unhappy that I won't go for the lump sum option and is refusing to accept my offer of child maintenance in line with my reduced income.

I dare say she is 'unhappy' with it. That is too bad. Child maintenance should be paid for out of income and if income drops so too does child maintenance.

Frankly, I don't know the details of the CMS rules. That system excludes solicitors. I would suggest you pay child maintenance monthly to your ex by way of cheque sending a letter (of which you should keep a copy) saying, 'I enclose a cheque for £x in respect of child maintenance. £x is what I calculate is payable using the CMS formula'. You need the letter to ensure that there is no future argument about the payments being for something else and as evidence that you have been paying child maintenance.

Thank you Mr Terry for that advice, it is much appreciated.