earnings of parent with primary residence

As a NRP whose RP earns more than myself* I have to admit this does gripe me a little. I pay my 15% less deductions for nights over however I have to provide everything when the child is with me, I provide holidays, trips out, treats, have to do all the fetching and carrying etc etc. I''d guesstimate this is at least equal and probably quite a bit more to what I already pay yet I only get a one seventh deduction of 15% net pay. Soem parents will not be able to afford to do some of the above and I worry that children may see the RP as the one who does all the good stuff where the NRP doesnt do the good stuff and these could contribute towards parental alienation. The ''voluntary'' system using the CM option calculator definitly needs updating.
* I knwo they earn more but have no idea how much. How come they know everything about my financial situation yet I am not allowed to know anything about theirs. Again, there is a serious imbalance there.

BDC,

I''m going to be in the same situation, we plan to have the children 50:50.

I''m likely to get only 40% share of the FMH, so my mortgage is going to be greater to start with.

The stbx will get more money from the state and her earnings of 3 shifts a fortnight than I will get from working 45hour+ weeks, but I''ll still have to pay maintenance.

I wouldn''t mind so much paying if the assets were split evenly in the first place, but they won''t be.

Unfortunately, it will be my relationship with the children that will suffer as I won''t be able to afford to do anything with them.

I agree with both of you. It is wrong.

My husband''s ex and her husband she left him for are golddiggers who have well paid jobs, and try to get extras from my husband who pays for everything for the boys pretty much in both houses (so they don''t go without or end up in a scruffy state) AND pays £3k maintenance a year despite having them 50:50.

There is a new system of maintenance calculation very slowly being introduced (and good luck finding info about it!) called CS3. Under it true 50/50 cases don''t have to pay maintenance, but it is currently only for people opening a new case with 4+ children. It hopes soon to roll out to 2+ children. It will take several years to roll out to everyone.

It doesn''t help unless you are completely 50:50 and does not seem to account for differences in finances between houses still.

I really think the discount given for numbers of nights over at NRPs should be 2/7, as it is 1/7 more the NRP has to fund and 1/7 less the RP has to. A common split is 3 nights at NRP and 4 nights at RP, and this basically costs the same as having them 50:50.