Child Maintenance (CSA) questions (merged)

tiptoes

Maybe your friend could ask her ex to pay for the clubs every other week or something. No its not much but I know from bitter experience that some men dont like giving their ex partners money (as they thinks she will be out enjoying herself on his hard earnings) though he may be more willing to hand the money over if he paying fee's etc. Worked with my ex he pays through the CSA £9.20 a month, laughable as he in a well paid job, but have found that if I ask him to buy shoes or pay club fees, not as much arguements as If I ask for the money.

Jummy

My partner pays his ex 40.00 per week for their daughter through the CSA.
We have 1 son together.
Your friend would be much better off going the CSA route.
They will take into account her ex's new partners earnings as well.
They have used my CTC in their calculations as well as my partners earnings which makes me so mad.

black-saturn

My childrens dad pays £37 per week each for both of them but I truly and honestly wish he didnt have to pay. I'd rather be free of him. He has a restraining order against him so I dont see why he should pay.

sparrklie

Hi,

I have 2 children by my ex and the CSA are involved. They've made mistake after mistake and it's taken almost a year for assessments to be made. Currently, my ex is approx £1k in arrears, he's self employed and he is meant to be paying £15 pw for the 2 children (used to be £45). I have disputed his earnings and now it's going to tribunal. I honestly don't think I will acheive anything but I was recommended to take this route and ask him to justify his lifestyle. He takes trips abroad and has stayed in the States and Canada for up to 3 months at a time.
To be honest, I am so fed up with the CSA (they even paid my money into someone else's account!) and I was wondering if there was a way of opting out and setting a legal agreement between both of us with a sum that my ex can realistically afford. If he does travel outside of the UK again for any length of time, he is out of jurisdiction for the CSA anyway and with previous experience of this, all that happens is the CSA close the case and it takes another 12 months for them to reassess.
I don't want much from the ex, just an fair rate that we can both agree on. All I need now is push in the right direction to get this sorted.
Hope someone can help!
TIA

iluvfreebies

Hi Sparklie
You havnt mentioned if you are a private or benefit customer. I am guessing you are private

You can try to sort out an amicable agreement with the childrens father and something drafted by a solicitor to state this agreement. THis isnt legally binding though and the onus is on him to pay. As far as i know it isnt generally possible to have something set up legally for child maintenance as courts usually signpost people to the csa.

If when he travels he still has a property/interests in the uk or is working for his uk based company then the agency would still have juristiction so the case should remain open unless he actually sells up and moves

If payments are irregular / erratic you should ask why the payments are not being enforced ie write to customer services asking for more action to be taken

Hope this helps

sparrklie

Hi,
I get child tax credits but not income support as I'm now remarried. My ex doesn't really have anything to keep him here as he lives with his parents and is self employed. He does have a medical pension that is in the UK but even though the CSA take that into consideration in the assessment, when he's out of the jurisdiction like before, they tell me that they will not make an assessment on that!!! While he was in USA this time last year, the CSA actually closed our case, this is why it's taken so long to get it up and running again and the maintenance payments only started again last month. All I want is a regular payment and system that works cos the CSA certainly haven't done very well at all with our case.

TIGs

My partener is still waiting for them to tell him how much he has to pay after 3 years every time he rings to ask they say they're still looking into it.

Whats annoying is he was paying his ex wife £50 a week when they first split up but because his wife is on benifits the CSA had to be involved, They advised him to stop aying her anything as this would not be taken into account once it was all sorted and 3 years laetr he still doesn't know whst hes paying. I can't understand why they had to get involved if he was paying anyway

He did ask why he couldn't just pay and CSA butt out basically but they said no cos his ex is on benifits.

£Ronnie

Can I clarify, if the Dad is living outside the UK does he not have to pay? Even if the Mum recieves benefits?

Also does anyone know what is the latest news on the CSA closing/ disbanding (cant think of the right term right now:o)

TIA
Ronnie

wendyjb

If you do get to an amicable agreement with your ex, all you need to do to opt out of the CSA is to write them a letter.

State that you wish to have your maintenance paid direct from your ex to yourself, and that you do not want them to be involved in collecting the funds.
The good thing about this is that the case is still held open, so if you do find that the arrangement does not work, you can ask them to start collecting again on your behalf.

However, if you state in the letter that you no longer wish to pursue a claim, then they will close the case altogether. But if your arrangement does not work out then you have to start a brand new claim.

If you are on income support, i don't think you can drop a claim, but pretty sure you can go for direct payment.

My ex and I, agreed to direct payment (and mutually agreed changing the amount paid, unbeknownst to the CSA) and then later had the case closed, and we had no problems.

Sorry this reply is so long, but hope it all makes sense.

Good luck.

CGG

My husband pays child maintenance for a child he had with an ex-girlfriend.
This child will be 17 later this year.
The original court order states that the maintenance payments are set "until age 17".
This may be a silly question, but those of you with experience may know. Does this wording actually mean until the 17th birthday, or in fact until the day before the childs 18th birthday?
Thanks