{"id":1541,"date":"2025-12-06T16:55:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T16:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1541"},"modified":"2025-10-28T16:56:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T16:56:34","slug":"what-you-should-know-about-child-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/what-you-should-know-about-child-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"What You Should Know About Child Maintenance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When parents separate, one of the big questions that comes up is, &#8220;What happens about money for the kids?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s completely normal to wonder that. Most parents want to do what\u2019s right but aren\u2019t sure where to start. That\u2019s where the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) comes in&#8230; they help work out what a fair contribution looks like.<\/p>\n<p>In simple terms, the CMS looks at how much the paying parent earns and how much time the children spend with each parent. They also take into account whether there are any other children being supported at home.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a rough idea of how it\u2019s worked out:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Around 12% of gross weekly income for one child<\/li>\n<li>16% for two<\/li>\n<li>19% for three or more<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those figures can change if the children stay overnight for at least 52 nights a year \u2014 so it\u2019s not one fixed number for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Some parents prefer to sort things out privately, which is fine if both sides are comfortable with it. But if that doesn\u2019t go smoothly, or if there\u2019s uncertainty later on, the CMS can step in and make an official calculation.<\/p>\n<p>The aim isn\u2019t to make things difficult &#8211; it\u2019s to make sure children get the support they need and that things feel fair for both parents.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re not sure where to begin, getting advice early can really help. It takes a bit of the pressure off and helps you understand what\u2019s realistic before any decisions are made.<\/p>\n<p>Our team have advised and helped lots of parents find practical solutions that work for their families. Whether you need help understanding CMS calculations or just want to talk things through, we\u2019re happy to listen.<\/p>\n<p>You can reach us at <a href=\"mailto:info@lundbennett.com\">info@lundbennett.com<\/a> or give us a call on 0161 924 0079 &#8211; no obligation, just a friendly chat about what comes next.<\/p>\n<p>Because at the end of the day, it\u2019s about doing what\u2019s best for your children \u2014 and having a bit of guidance along the way can make all the difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When parents separate, one of the big questions that comes up is, &#8220;What happens about money for the kids?&#8221; It\u2019s completely normal to wonder that. Most parents want to do what\u2019s right but aren\u2019t sure where to start. That\u2019s where the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) comes in&#8230; they help work out what a fair contribution&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/what-you-should-know-about-child-maintenance\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What You Should Know About Child Maintenance<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[483],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-child-maintenance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1543,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions\/1543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}