Variation of Income to Calculate Mainteance - what

What will CMS / HMRC use to calculate actual income to base a realistic Maintenance sum on?:

1. PAYE pay - yes but that''s only 6Kpa
2. X Bought a house cash 400k a month ago?
3. 100k in shares ISA''s etc? - @ 8% pa I think
4. What about 300k equity (50%) on this house that i live in with kids when X Partner refuses to discuss maintenance or selling their share?

on paper X is worth about 800k but income is a fraction & they refuse to discuss maintenance, support, selling their share of the family home.

Any ideas what I can do / claim?

CMS is based on taxable income, savings don''t come into equation even as a variation.

I don''t know any ISA or savings that pay 8%

How has he funded the purchase if the house in cash? He possibly/probably can not get another mortgage while he is liable for the home you live in. Has he inherited money?

The only person currently benefiting from the interest in the home you live in that he partially owns is you he won''t benefit from this property until it has to be sold, when it is ....whatever he has invested in it will be his how many years will he have to wait until he can get his share back.

You really need to find out how he funded house purchase and have a look at ISA rates 4/5 % is best you can get in high risk ISA

x Bought new house using savings & investments / cash, no mortgage.

Former family home has no mortgage its joint tenants in common - equal share so they get 50% whenever its sold.

Annual house price inflation on that house is greater than my annual salary & i am on a very good salary!

Half the inflation increase pa is outpacing my ability to save & invest to buy later - especially as I am paying everything for 3 kids. They pay no maintenance.

I heard HMRC assume an annual income is taken at 8% of savings & investments over about 60k & they use that as a variation of PAYE income? x does not live on 6k pa! that does not pay basic bills.

So in +5years when youngest is over 18 I loose my home & the kids lose their only family home (born here) even though they may need it during or after college /uni or what ever they get up to.........

How you do know he has bought a house for cash. Could he be renting? He has to live somewhere as presumably you and the children are still in the family home.

Initially you referred to your ex as he..... Now he is a they so I gather he is in a new relationship

Anyhow ... How does he earn a living

Check with land registry who owns the home you think he bought

All he needs to do ... To prove he does not get 8% interest is declare his interest no one he''s that rate won''t take very long to disprove that

I feel you would be better concentrating on how he earns a living and income from that... The ow may have assests you are unaware of, he can transfer assets to ow

Where you married and if so have the finances been finalised with a court order?

With divorce settlements the value of any assets (including pensions) held in joint and sole names form the pot to be shared according to a checklist of factors in s25 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The priority is the welfare of dependent children under 18 years of age, in particular meeting their need for housing, but older children aren''t irrelevant if they are likely to go into higher education.

On the other hand if you weren''t married it is a bit more complicated. Cohabitants can''t claim against each other, although if your ex has a reasonable amount of capital she may be expected to use some of it to provide housing for the children until they finish school or a first degree or to pay for one off child related expenditure. The law is complicated for co-habitants and you would be well advised to see a solicitor if you weren''t married to find out where you stand and what options there are in your particular circumstances.


As far as child maintenance is concerned if you cannot reach an agreement between yourselves the CMS carries out a basic calculation based on the latest tax return and the recipient may apply for a variation on the grounds that the paying parent has additional income not taken into account. Under the 2012 rules a variation can be considered when the non resident parent has certain types of taxable unearned income (i.e. income that has not been counted in gross weekly income) of £2.5k or more a year.

There are no grounds for a variation on the basis of the value of an asset themselves if they do not provide an income. Any taxable income derived from the use of property or land counts as additional income, but the capital value of the property or land is ignored. Any taxable income from savings and investments counts as unearned income. However certain types of savings or investments (e.g. ISAs) are exempt from tax and therefore disregarded.

The CMS base variation decisions on the actual unearned income figures rather than a notional percentage.