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	Man has full custody of two teenage children while ex-wife earns net pay of &euro;620 a week</p>
<p>
	A stay-at-home father of two teenagers had his child maintenance doubled at the Family High Court yesterday after his ex-wife applied to alter their divorce order.<br />
	The man had full custody of his daughters and their mother&rsquo;s only access was through letters to them.<br />
	The mother&rsquo;s counsel told Mr Justice Henry Abbott she was not seeking to change access as she hoped it would &ldquo;grow organically&rdquo; as the children got older. But she was seeking to change elements of the divorce order including the father&rsquo;s sole right to the family home.<br />
	Mr Justice Henry Abbott heard the father was on lone parent&rsquo;s allowance and had income of less than &euro;390 a week, including maintenance of &euro;100 a week for his children from his ex-wife, a public servant.<br />
	The mother, from whom he divorced in 2012, earned net pay of &euro;620 a week. The couple had separated some years earlier. Asked by counsel for his ex-wife why he &ldquo;chose not to work outside the home&rdquo;, the man said the question was laughable. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re saying that because I&rsquo;m a man and at home looking after my children; if I was a housewife you wouldn&rsquo;t be saying that to me,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	Self-employed<br />
	He had been self-employed but went out of business in 2008. The children had initially been in the custody of their mother. The father said for the 3&frac12; years his children lived with their mother &ldquo;they were subjected to horrific things&rdquo;. He subsequently got sole custody. The father said the children were now happy and content, but he was finding it financially difficult and had &ldquo;zero&rdquo; in his bank account at Christmas. He needed more maintenance, he said. He also had plans to start his own business.</p>
<p>
	Ex-wife had custody<br />
	His ex-wife had custody of the children initially, though, he said, they were with him more than half of the time. He said she had given them &ldquo;a horrific time&rdquo; for more than three years. At one point the children had called garda&iacute; and asked to be removed from the home. A psychologist&rsquo;s report had issued and the children chose to live with their father.<br />
	The father said he would &ldquo;love to see a situation&rdquo; where his daughters had contact with their mother and &ldquo;that they have enough confidence for forgiveness&rdquo;.<br />
	The mother told the court she had to pay rent for her one-bedroom home, and was also making additional pension payments. She believed her ex-husband had &ldquo;some influence&rdquo; over the children&rsquo;s opinion of her, the court heard.<br />
	Mr Justice Abbott ordered that the weekly maintenance payment be increased to &euro;200. The mother was in part-time employment when the order was made but was now working full time, he said, and there had to be some sense of &ldquo;celebration and socialisation&rdquo; for the teenagers, not just &ldquo;survival&rdquo;.<br />
	He also ordered the family home be sold when the younger child reached 21 and divided 60/40 in favour of the father.<br />
	He should also be awarded 25 per cent of the mother&rsquo;s pension.</p>
<p>
	http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/stay-at-home-father-s-child-maintenance-doubled-1.1672739</p>
