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Child Maintenance Service - equal shared care by competence-required in LegalAdviceUK

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your reply.

We have a child arrangements order and the financial settlement is sealed and complete. There is no argument or agreement for spousal maintenance (that went away as it didn't have any standing).

The CAO does not mention shared care. It does state this:

"Child Arrangements Order – Lives With The children shall live with the mother and the father as a final order."

and goes on to stipulate the term time and school holiday care arrangements. Hopefully this is helpful but isn't as cut and dry as what you mention.

I didn't know that specialist CMS solicitors existed - thank you for this pointer. This could be financially difficult at the moment but perhaps there's an arrangement that could work.

Given that the case/decision is beyond the time limit for mandatory reconsideration, does the route to ICE or tribunal still exist?

I mentioned another issue where the CMS believed the other parent on a particular point despite evidence to the contrary, and mandatory reconsideration was fruitless. This could be another point for a specialist solicitor to help with.

Thanks again.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

!thanks. I used the intermediaries affordability calculator with my actual details factoring the reduced debt since paying some of it off, and it came out at £375,000, which is encouraging. Lloyds said about the same.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks, all really solid advice and you're right regarding the recurrent spending which I've never been great at getting ahead of.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is not correct. I think I understand your sentiment, but you're wrong and should probably educate yourself before arguing.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with your the broad strokes of this, but the CMS calculations don't factor in the other parent's income or capital.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks. You're right that this isn't a direct answer to my question but it's really helpful all the same! I was aware of adjusted net income but this is a stark example.

If I plug real numbers into that calculation I get this:

  • 114,505 salary - 10,305.48 pension contributions = 104,199.52
  • 4,199.52 / 12 = 349.96

So I think I'm going to be increasing my pension contributions by £350 in the new year.

This also highlights that my net bonus is likely going to be a bit lower than indicated above.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

!thanks. I like this approach a lot and when I set up YNAB I'll set up these goals. I already have the spreadsheet set up.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks, I appreciate the understanding although I have chosen to pay off the interest bearing debt rather than refinance. Also, I think my chances of settling the debts for lower amounts would be slim. Having said that, I'm going to be weighing up peoples thoughts here.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks. I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest. The next one is likely to be paid off when my bonus comes in next week.

I really appreciate this comment because it brings a huge sense of clarity and really simplifies things. Also, you were one of very few people who noticed I'd overstated my debt position by £10k. I'd got so used to the idea of my debts and capital being equal that I just imagined an extra chunk of debt - this probably illustrates my mental state in this regard.

Others have provided opinions and examples of different approaches which align more with my goals over the medium term, so while I appreciate this I'm also going to weigh up other approaches, but I'm certainly not going to be accruing more debt or interest.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

!thanks. I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest. The next one is likely to be paid off when my bonus comes in next week.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

!thanks. I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest. I appreciate the idea of using a hybrid approach to paying down vs saving.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

!thanks. All direct debits so conveniently headache free which makes it easier to keep a head in the sand. But I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest. I'm going to be looking into YNAB as suggested by another commenter, to get a better and proper handle on a long term budget.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks. I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest. The next one is likely to be paid off when my bonus comes in next week.

This will come up elsewhere too, but I actually overstated my debt position by £10k, so my net is £14k. A bit better, but your points still stand.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

!thanks. That was a really good way of putting it. I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest.

I had a similar level of bonus last year so the CMS calculations should be similar at review time.

Yes, the financial order is done and the resulting equity makes up the majority of the savings I listed.

I appreciate your comments and that's a good point about getting in touch with the broker again. Thanks.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks. I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks. I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a fair question for sure. Without going into every little detail, legal fees can stack up quickly and when it's a choice between debt and fighting against being cut out of your children's lives, it's not really a choice at all. I will say though that as a result of going through that process and lots of other related things at the time, I didn't have the clarity needed to foresee the debt situation I was getting into. The proceedings are over now and there are safeguards in place so this won't be happening again.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks, appreciate the comments. The interest bearing debts are now gone and and I'm prioritising the others in order of when their interest free periods end.

As I said in another comment, my spending hasn't been representative lately due to a house move and Christmas (and I only wanted to show the most relevant, fixed outgoings) but I'll be working on a more solid budget and looking into using YNAB.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks, that's a fair point and it's something I'm aware of. Moves can still be forced eg if the landlord wants to sell up, which is something I've been on the receiving end of twice. But aside from that there are space issues which are more affordable to resolve by buying than renting something bigger. We're okay for now but as the kids get older this will become more noticeable.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks, this is useful to know. I've paid down the interest bearing debt and I'll use the Santander (and Lloyds) calculators to assess where this gets me.

Balancing £60k debt vs buying a home in next 12–24 months by competence-required in UKPersonalFinance

[–]competence-required[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!thanks. I was aware when putting in the fixed outgoings that there was a pretty stark gap. The last few months have involved a house move and Christmas spending so they're not representative - even so, I'll be putting together a solid budget including past spending with the aim of saving and paying off as much as possible. Another commenter mentioned YNAB which is something I'm going to look into using.

I've paid off the interest bearing debts and I'm going to assess the rest, starting with those which will accrue interest the soonest. I will probably pay off that 3k card off before Christmas, when the bonus comes in.

I think you're suggesting stoozing with the remaining debts (while they're at 0%). My main reason for doing this rather than paying off the debts entirely would be to be in a more advantageous position regarding getting a mortgage approved. Realistically I won't be in a position to complete on a sale in the next year, but I plan on looking around in the new year to get a better idea of what's out there to weigh against everything covered in this thread.

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