income for maintenance payments

I know there's no hard and fast rule here, but what is included in each persons income when assessing if spousal maintenance is payable?

I have heard the general rule that if one person has less than 1/3 of total net income, then it is likely they will get SM?

My question being does this include things like tax credits and child maintenance that waould become payable after seperation/ divorce but not paid now?

For example, my spouse currently earns a bit less than a third of our total net income.

However, if you include child allowance, tax credits and in particular CM that I would have to pay, this would make it pretty much 50/50% going forward post divorce.

What's the general opinion on likely SM?

Also, how are discretionary bonuses payable by an employer generally viewed for CM/ SM purposes. My employer pays me a bonus six monthly but this is completely discretionary and not subject to any formula so virtually impossible to estimate accurately, partucularly as I have only been employed by them for 1 full financial year so far??

Again, appreciate no hard and fast answer but any guidance much appreciated......

Tommo.

My ex 2 be and I agreed SM to her by looking at each of our outgoings and what was needed by her to enjoy a similar lifestyle to the one she had when we were together. I have earned £115K and £112K over the past 2 years and she has earned £16K each year. We have 2 children that we share care of 50:50 week on week off. When all the calculations were done she had out goings of £X (I don't remember the figures) Her income was made up of her salary, CB, WFTC and CM. The short fall was £900 per month so that is what I pay her. SM and CM equals about 27% of my net income. She has started to cohabit so hopefully soom I will only be paying her the CM

I hope this helps

M441

kind of helps thanks.

my wife earns around the same part time although my earnings are about half yours but could bump up a fair bit over the next few years.

I suppose I have a real aversion to SM. I don't wish to sound harsh but really, the way I look at it is if you have been married to someone for any length of time and accrued assets (no matter what the income split) then they have been jointly accrued and should be split fairly and evenly as possible. However, once you have gone your seperate ways, your future income is your own responsibility surely??

I don't have an issue with CM, although I'm pretty sure 20% of my net income is a bit steep as I'm sure we don't spend 20% of our joint net income directly on "maintaining" our children at the moment.

Is SM common, where both partners have maintained their careers? (my wife currently part time but could increase if she wanted to fairly easily). If she went full time, plus tax credits, CM etc I wouldn't be surprised if her net income ended up being higher than mine.

Also, some of my income is discretionary lump sum bonuses. Is CM/SM generally paid as a % of all future earnings or does it get fixed at a £ amount to reflect earnings at the time of divorce?

thank you.

It seems there are very few questions to do with divorce that have a clear cut answer.

I suppose it will all come out in the wash as they say! Still, it would be nice to have an idea of what share of it will be mine once the spin cycle stops, before pressing start!

Off topic question..... how do I stop the email notifications of replies to my posts?? My wife uses this PC too

As I understand it SM can be used to allow the lower earner to adjust to the new post-marriage circumstances.

tommo2

There is a check box at the bottom of every post you write, so if this is ticked you will automatically be advised if there is a new post added.

Once you have typed your post, untick this box and you wont be emailed.

If you forget to do this, go into "my profile" then into "my postings" and it will show in there all of the topics you are subscribed to. You can then unsubscribe from there.