Maintenance, what are you paying?

Offy

This by the way isn’t a moan thread. Im hoping it will turn into an informative thread for anyone wanting to know about what is an average level of maintenance payment.
There’s a lot of talk about what the courts award and a lot of talk about what you (single parent) are entitled to but what I want to know is what are you (the non custodial parent) actually paying.
As for me, Im widowed with three children and I have a fourth child from a different relationship. I pay €75 per week to my ex. She doesn’t work but that’s by choice as she wants to mind our daughter full time so she get OPFP. She owns her own house with no mortgage as she inherited so no rent or bank payments. I add more for Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions but that’s not declared.
I work full time and receive a pension, I make monthly payments to the bank and as I pointed out Im also a single parent. Other than accommodation costs we more or less have the same bills. We never went to court over this as we agreed it between ourselves. Ive read in several threads that the courts can award up to €150 per week depending on circumstances. If Im paying €75 per week and my ex is contributing the same then our daughter should have all she needs.
So what do you pay?

Kildrought

I pay ...

Mortgage
ESB
Telephone
Gas
Solid Fuels for fire
TV incl. licence fee
Waste Collection
Insurance - life, car, house
Groceries
School costs, books, uniforms, trips etc.,
Extra curricular, music, dance, drama, pottery, scouts etc.,
Christmas
Birthdays
Holidays
Medical Bills, medications
Hair dressers
Dry cleaners
House decoration and maintenance
Garden maintenance
etc., etc.,

No SW, no child maintenance.

TheLynx

I pay nothing, I have chosen that my son can rely on his mother for support

silly

TheLynx wrote: »

I pay nothing, I have chosen that my son can rely on his mother for support

That's nice. My ex has chosen the same.

Moonbeam

Can we please keep this thread on topic or else I will close it.

Offy

Moonbeam wrote: »

Can we please keep this thread on topic or else I will close it.

I hope this thread can be used by single parents to inform them of what is realistic in terms of maintenance. There is a lot of speculation about what the courts will or wont award. This thread is not intended to be about that. It could be useful for lots of people who simply dont know what to expect so please keep it on-topic.

James Jones

Offy wrote: »

Ive read in several threads that the courts can award up to €150 per week depending on circumstances.

€150 per week is the District Court limit (HERE) per child. In higher courts (Circuit, High, Supreme etc) there is no limit.
I pay €250 per week for two children. She's looking for more as we speak.

For your information, check out page 53 of Post-Separation Parenting

Maintenance payments
The provision of maintenance is an important aspect of divorce legislation in Ireland. Accordingly,
maintenance payments were included in the discussion and analysis of treatment of the family
home (see above). This reflects the way in which the settlement can be seen as a package. Not all
cases observed stated the maintenance sum paid – just that it was agreed and being paid.
To summarise the maintenance payments in the 87 cases examined in this study, maintenance is
only payable when there are dependent children (defined as under the age of 18) or older children
(up to the age of 23 if attending college). Child maintenance payments were made in 54 cases out
of the total of 87 observed. Payments ranged from €140 per month to €3,000 per month. Coulter
(2009b, p. 64) noted that where maintenance was specified, the amounts varied from €60-€100 per
week per child, along with educational and medical expenses. There is no payment actually stipulated
by any statutory agency, but it is related to the willingness of parents to pay it. A typical lower
income level payment would be €75 or €80 per child per week. This is expected to contribute to the
child’s living costs, housing, clothes, food, education, mobile phone and other sundry expenses. The
residential parent will also receive a Child Benefit Allowance. If a husband was unemployed or ill, the
amount of maintenance ordered was lower. There were 6 cases of unpaid maintenance ‘arrears’, which
can be a source of conflict between couples. Furthermore, in the District Court the non-payment
of maintenance can result in fines and imprisonment. This may explain why some mothers do not
pursue maintenance claims. Maintenance arrears were more likely to occur in lower income families,
where the husband was unemployed, and in cases of paternal desertion.
No maintenance was paid in 4 cases where the children were living with their fathers since the
mothers did not pay maintenance. There was no maintenance paid in the 3 cases where the
divorced parents shared residential custody of their children. In 3 cases where the ‘children’ were
independent and in 5 other cases, there was simply no reference made in judgments to paying
maintenance.

Fittle

I receive 75euro per week for my son from his dad. His dad saw him once when he was 4, for an hour. I work full time and pay all the bills Kildrought pays.

I've often been told that I'm 'lucky' to be getting such a large amount of money per week from him when there are women getting nothing.

But I wouldn't have even brought him to court in the first instance, if he had a relationship with his son. There's no money on earth can compensate for a child growing up without a father.

Sleepy

No courts involved. Step-son's Dad pays 300 a month maintenance.

We're extraordinarily lucky in that he and my other half managed to stay friends and he and I have become good friends too. He'll actually be staying in our house Christmas Eve so he can be there for the little fella's reaction to Santa in the morning. Did this for the first time last year as it was the first time we lived near enough each other for it to be practical and this year the kids insisted we had to get him a Christmas Stocking with his name on it too... so we now have socks on the fireplace with "Daddy [Sleepy]" and Daddy [XXXX]!

Really feel for those who aren't as lucky as we are, can't imagine not being able to see my daughter at Christmas.

daltonmd

Offy wrote: »

She doesn’t work but that’s by choice as she wants to mind our daughter full time so she get OPFP. She owns her own house with no mortgage as she inherited so no rent or bank payments. I add more for Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions but that’s not declared.
I work full time and receive a pension, I make monthly payments to the bank and as I pointed out Im also a single parent. Other than accommodation costs we more or less have the same bills. We never went to court over this as we agreed it between ourselves. Ive read in several threads that the courts can award up to €150 per week depending on circumstances. If Im paying €75 per week and my ex is contributing the same then our daughter should have all she needs.
So what do you pay?

Not to derail the thread but as with other threads I have pointed out that those parents in receipt of maintenance should not also be in receipt of OPFP.
I've also pointed out that the parent who has the child, their income/housing arrangements have no bearing on what the amount (up to 150 per week) is set at, this payment is from a parent to a parent to assist with the upbringing of a child.
To say that your ex has no rent/mortgage is to imply that if she had that you would pay more child maintenance, it doesn't, so again it has no bearing on the amount awarded in court.

The one parent family payment is " a payment for men and women who are bringing children up without the support of a partner. "

And not for "those who choose not to work".

As a working single mum, I would love to "choose" to stay at home, as I am sure would a lot of people.
Now it is great that both of you came to a good arrangement regarding maintenance, but not good that your ex is claiming an entiltement that she is actually not entitled to - so the taxpayer is supporting your agreement and your ex's choice not to work.

Moonbeam

Yes it does.
The cost of housing is taken in to account.

Kildrought

The one parent family payment is " a payment for men and women who are bringing children up without the support of a partner. "

I am raising children without the support of a partner, financial or otherwise. I don't get OPF. Why? Because I work, OPF is means tested, therefore in order to qualify for it a parent is either not working or working limited hours/on a limited income.

So you do have a choice daltonmd, everyone does.

I made the choice to look to my own talents and abilities to support myself and my family; I'm very grateful that I've been able to do so. I'm very proud of what I've been able to achieve and what my (now almost grown) children have achieved themselves.

It's not for me to tell others how to direct their lives. In my view at least children are benefiting from the money, Lord knows we do little enough for them in this country.

Not to go off topic but I'd save my ire for the money burned in this country on our banks, endless tribunals, Priory Hall (and goodness knows how many others), Pyrite scandals and the like.....

daltonmd

Moonbeam wrote: »

Yes it does.
The cost of housing is taken in to account.

It's included in the maintenance - which is set at MAX 150 per week for one child. Even if a man (for arguments sake) was on 500k per year the the max the court could award is 150pw.

Fittle

daltonmd wrote: »

It's included in the maintenance - which is set at MAX 150 per week for one child. Even if a man (for arguments sake) was on 500k per year the the max the court could award is 150pw.

That's only the max in the District Courts.

There is no maximum for maintenance in the Circuit Courts.

If a man or woman were earning 500k per annum, they would probably be brought to the Circuit Court for a maintenance order.

justme7136

I pay 130 for 2 kids aged 5 and 7,
I feel robbed, The mother choose to be a single parent, we had a little row and now she chooses to ignore me forever
Kids dont need their dad kinda attitude going on, very hard to deal with

Kildrought

Not quite, daltonmd.

€150 per week per child is the max that can be awarded in a District Court. There is no limit in Circuit Court.

Edit: looks like we all posted at the same time!

Moonbeam

daltonmd wrote: »

It's included in the maintenance - which is set at MAX 150 per week for one child. Even if a man (for arguments sake) was on 500k per year the the max the court could award is 150pw.

The Max the district court can award is 150.
Read James Jones post above.


Also..

If you have nothing to contribute to this thread please stop posting on it.

daltonmd

Kildrought wrote: »

Not quite, daltonmd.

€150 per week per child is the max that can be awarded in a District Court. There is no limit in Circuit Court.

Yes I know and that is regardless of how much a father earns.

If the issue is being dealt with in the higher court then It's not just child maintenance:

"6. Circuit Court

Proceedings are held in the Circuit Court where all issues of joint assets (everything the parties own), matters concerning children, and matters concerning the finality of relationships are decided upon.

Proceedings which involve joint assets of a combined value exceeding a certain, higher threshold are heard in the High Court. The services of a solicitor and barrister are required for representation in the Circuit Court.

A request should be made for a transcript of court proceedings. This is advisable to enable the parties to understand and rely on what was said and done during the hearing. If an appeal is lodged in the High Court, the transcript constitutes a case history which saves time and expense."

That's money required to even take your case there.

daltonmd

Moonbeam wrote: »

Yes it does.
The cost of housing is taken in to account.

From James Jones post

"A typical lower
income level payment would be €75 or €80 per child per week. This is expected to contribute to the
child’s living costs, housing, clothes, food, education, mobile phone and other sundry expenses. "

The cost of housing is not in addition to the maintenance award Moonbeam.

I will now not post anymore. Although it is a pity because there are a lot of issues that people in that situation are simply unaware of.

Morag

daltonmd I think a general thread on that would be helpful but this one is just for parents who are paying or receiving maintenance to share and compare, so people can get an idea of what the norm is.

angelfire9

My brother in law pays €172 per week for 4 kids and his kids have no interest in seeing him over the holidays as they are "too busy" he is GUTTED
He went to Dublin at the weekend (from Clare) as pre arranged to see them and when he went to the house the eldest was studying and couldn't take time off and the other 3 were gone out, he left 4 Christmas cards with €50 in each for each of the kids to get themselves something for Christmas and they didn't even text him to say thanks never mind ring him


My sister gets €30 a week for 1 child from her ex and he sees his daughter all the time, minds her regularly (at his house and at hers) and they have a great relationship

I have never known anyone who got the district court max but maybe that is just me?

irishjig69b

I pay 80 for two girls who couldn't care less if I live or die, I texted them birthdays Xmas that sort of thing but the never ring txt only when they want something and like a fu coking idiot I do it, they are now 17 and 15 I am married and have a wonderful 2 year old wich my other 2 don't care about my 17 year old has never seen her and don't want to either my 15 year old seen her 3 times but that's it, I washed my hands of them some months ago because I just could not have my heart broken again by them, I also pay for school each year, god knows why I do it but at least when they grow up nobody will ever say I did atleast do my best money wise :-)

January

Zombie thread, closed.