I should start by saying that there is no current CSA claim in this situation, but the mother keeps threatening to make one.
Backstory: My partner has been the main caregiver two his two young daughters (now age 3 and 6) since birth, while his (now ex) wife was the higher income earner (on approx. 42k pa). He led a small consultancy partnership at the time and worked flexibly. Upon separation in April 2010 he continued to look after the children for as many days as she would permit. Initially 3 days per week, then 5 days/nights per fortnight (he continuously requested more time with his girls). Because she is very unstable and emotionally abusive to the children as well as physically and verbally abusive to him (has received police caution for one assault), he applied for full residence. Well we all know about the sexism in family courts and despite very clear facts, the judge was sympathetic to the mother .... just cause 'being the mother' in itself apparently makes any horrible behaviour ok. Shared Residence was ordered, my partner got an extra night with the kids (so now 6 nights out of 14, with holidays split 50-50). She eventually took residence back to court on zero grounds because she wasn't coping with not being viewed as the main parent. The judge railroaded my partner into allowing her to have the label of full residence, while retaining the existing contact order. This forced consent order is now being appealed and my partner has resolved to continue to fight for his children in court until he has de facto 50-50 shared residence or full residence in his favour.
Upon separation she poisoned the relationship with his business partner, leading to the partnership being dissolved. In the first 7 months of separation he had no income and lived off savings (now all gone...). He then managed to get a lectureship at a university, initially on a temp contract, now moved to a permanent contract at another uni.
She has massively drawn out capital division in relation to the equity of the former matrimonial home. She still lives there (half the time with the kids, half the time by herself). Last September my partner and I bought a house on our own (after renting a horrible former council house, paying more in rent than she paid for her mortgage). We're on a low deposit mortgage (deposit funded by our respective parents), paying mortgage payments 3.5 times as high as hers. We desperately need his share of the equity in the former matrimonial home (a full 50% equity payout would still make her better off than him) to remortgage our house (on a better mortgage deal) after the fixed term and continue to provide a stable home for his kids. Ancillary Relief/Capital Division is now in court, with a final hearing on the 5th March. She has profited massively from delaying the proceedings and refusing intermittent offers.
For ages she didn't want any of his money. Not like she needs it - all child related expenses are fully shared (nursery, activities, food, clothing, toys, etc.), and they do have very similar earnings. He in fact has more daytime contact with his children (takes Thursdays off work (putting more hours in on other days) to spend the entire day with the younger one). But of course the CSA counts nights. So he would in theory have to pay her 59 or so pounds per week in maintenance.
Income: He is currently on around 28k net, her net income (on fewer weekly hours!) is around 30k. I work full-time, too, but I believe my income isn't relevant to his children, or is it?
Now, particularly in light of the ongoing Ancillary Relief proceedings, she keeps threatening with the CSA, claiming to want to reduce the payout by some 32k because that's what he would owe her in CSA payments till the older child is 18. (no idea where she gets that figure from). Now I've heard a lot of CSA horror stories and I have loads of questions, just to be prepared if she does claim.
1) Does the CSA consider ongoing residence proceedings and that the father has been (and tried to continue to be!) the main caregiver to his children? Can a claim be halted until residence is resolved?
2) Does the CSA consider that that daytime care and child related expenses are already equally shared? He currently receives child benefit for one daughter.
3) If he is made to pay child maintenance, can he quit paying other child related expenses (say tell her to use the 59 quid a month to cover his share of the overall nursery fees?). We worry that with paying for the children as he does already (because they are with him very nearly 50% of the time), losing around 236 quid a month to her, will actually mean that we can do less with and for the kids, than we do now.
(it may sound like we're doing well income wise, both employed on good salaries, but we have high outgoings due to accruing debt while neither of us was working (shortly after his separation) and due to our punitively high low-deposit high-interest mortgage, so money is a huge concern at the moment).
I worry about this. I care a lot about his little ones and we're also currently hoping to have a baby together in the very near future.
So finally
4) Does the CSA consider that making him pay may actually make the kids less well off? Or is it really just dependent on income and number of nights spent with each parent?
I appreciate any input.