Recently remarried...so

koski1

I have recently remarried and have a csa order attached to my earnings. Do I have to tell csa that I have remarried and if so would wifes earnings be assessed as well ???? thanks

kelloggs36

You don't have to tell them anything unless they ask.
Are you under CS1 or CS2? If the latter, then your payments won't change unless you have any children living in your household.

jacklink

even if they ask your wife is under no obligation to answer

koski1

Thanks for your reply's. I asked the question on my husbands behalf as he was at work. The claim has been going on for some time now, positive since before 2003 (when cs2 arrived ? ). He was out of work for some time before I met him, so was unable to pay. Now he has a job and suddenly got a letter saying there was a payment order being attached to his wages so its taken out before we get wages. I know there are arrears to be paid...but we can't work out the figures....asking for £73.84 a week which adds up to £319.97 a month when averaged over the year. but the deo order is stating £426.66 a month...would the extra be for the arrears? They haven't told us why.
At the moment they know nothing about me....and there are no details on husbands living costs for rent or anything, I assume he is paying highest rate?
Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm new to all this.

koski1

Thanks for your reply's. I asked the question on my husbands behalf as he was at work. The claim has been going on for some time now, positive since before 2003 (when cs2 arrived ? ). He was out of work for some time before I met him, so was unable to pay. Now he has a job and suddenly got a letter saying there was a payment order being attached to his wages so its taken out before we get wages. I know there are arrears to be paid...but we can't work out the figures....asking for £73.84 a week which adds up to £319.97 a month when averaged over the year. but the deo order is stating £426.66 a month...would the extra be for the arrears? They haven't told us why.
At the moment they know nothing about me....and there are no details on husbands living costs for rent or anything, I assume he is paying highest rate?
Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm new to all this.

amanda29kb

Hi

Your husband should have received a letter telling him about the payments. THe additional amount will be for arrears but your account schedule would have stated this.
The regular amount is worked out by taking the weekly amount of maintenance x 52 / 12 (if paying calendar monthly)

If you have any children of your own your husband should notify the CSA then a deduction can be made for the child/ren. Any income/assets of yours will never be taken into consideration towards maintenance or arrears. It is also useful for your husband to notify your existance to CSA then permission can be given for you to speak on his behalf if necessary.

If you need any more help just ask.

Amanda

koski1

was a child maintenance assessment letter, one telling us that the money was going to be deducted from his earnings and when. The other was a child maintenance statement that said they had added £453.59 to the arrears for period of 17/08/08 to 13/02/09.

Thanks again for your help

pd001

amanda29kb wrote: »

Hi

Your husband should have received a letter telling him about the payments. THe additional amount will be for arrears but your account schedule would have stated this.
The regular amount is worked out by taking the weekly amount of maintenance x 52 / 12 (if paying calendar monthly)

If you have any children of your own your husband should notify the CSA then a deduction can be made for the child/ren. Any income/assets of yours will never be taken into consideration towards maintenance or arrears. It is also useful for your husband to notify your existance to CSA then permission can be given for you to speak on his behalf if necessary.

If you need any more help just ask.

Amanda

Basically, if the csa ask for any of your details and you don't want to give them, then you don't have to. There is nothing in law that says that you must give your details.

There are however some occasions when it may be better for you both to give your details but conversely there are times when it would be better not to give your details to the csa.

I think that I have read on here that the general rule of thumb is as follows,
If you earn more than your partner then don't give your details.
If you earn less than your partner then it may be beneficial to give your details.

There are others on here, notably Kelloggs36 and Mr Green Genes (Mr GG for short) who can advise you further.

kelloggs36

In the general assessment, if you work then the chances are that your income will have no impact on the assessment. However, the problem arises IF the PWC applies for a departure on the grounds that you can contribute towards the housing costs - which increases the amount they use from your hubby's income. If you earn less than hubby, whilst the assessment is likely to increase, it will be 'damage limitation' ie the lowest increase possible, BECAUSE they apportion directly to what you earn. So, if you earn MORE than him he gets less housing costs, but if you earn LESS than him, he gets more. If you choose NOT to provide the details (which are entitled to do) then they can assume ANYTHING and apportion up to all of it! They normally default to 50/50 but this is not guaranteed.

koski1

Hi I'm koski1's husband. First of all many thanks to everyone that has replied with advice. Can i just ask a couple of general questions.

Received a deo order for £426 p.m. This is £319 for my daughter and the rest to pay towards the arrears. This was assessed without my completing any forms that were previously sent to me. I earn about a £1000 net per month and my wife earns £700 per month, and we live in a rented council house. Basically my question is would it be advisable for us to contact csa with a view to updating them with our financial circumstances or would it be better to just pay the amount they have assessed?

Our other question is....given the above circumstances, is there any point in my contacting my ex wife with a view to setting up a personal arrangement ie: have hesitated on doing this because I figure that any decrease in monthly payments will only be negated by csa increasing payment of arrears.

Thankyou once again, dave and koski1

pd001

koski1 wrote: »

Hi I'm koski1's husband. First of all many thanks to everyone that has replied with advice. Can i just ask a couple of general questions.

Received a deo order for £426 p.m. This is £319 for my daughter and the rest to pay towards the arrears. This was assessed without my completing any forms that were previously sent to me. I earn about a £1000 net per month and my wife earns £700 per month, and we live in a rented council house. Basically my question is would it be advisable for us to contact csa with a view to updating them with our financial circumstances or would it be better to just pay the amount they have assessed?

Our other question is....given the above circumstances, is there any point in my contacting my ex wife with a view to setting up a personal arrangement ie: have hesitated on doing this because I figure that any decrease in monthly payments will only be negated by csa increasing payment of arrears.

Thankyou once again, dave and koski1

Keep your eye on the DEO figure that they take from you and bear in mind that they can only take a maximum of 40% of your net take home pay.

If they take more than 40% you will not get a refund of the extra that you have paid!

In your case you say that your take home pay is in the region of £1000.00 per month and that the csa take £426.00 from you per month. I would say that this is very slightly over the maximum that they should be taking from you.

It is up to you, and your own personal circumstances wether or not you want to contact the csa and have the DEO rectified.

One more thing...should you eventually decide to set up a personal arrangement with your ex wife then you should ensure that any payments that you make are fully documented. Its a pain but it is the only safe way to ensure that any money that you pay is accounted for.
Have a read of the following.

Document all payments properly!
By that I mean you should make sure that there cannot be any misunderstanding what the payments are actually for in the future.

You should do more than just cross a cheque.....you should also
send a letter with each payment that you make, to the effect that the payment is specifically made to support your child (ren).


edit...You should name the child (ren) that the payment is for.
edit...The letter has to state that the money is for child maintenance and it must also stipulate for what period

Postal orders will suffice provided that you keep the stub, DO NOT LOSE THEM!
Ensure that it has the correct name in the payee section. Ensure that you cross the order or make sure that it is crossed when you buy it. If you dont cross it then it can be cashed and is much more difficult to trace in the future. Dont forget to send a letter with the postal order as I have specified above.....and again...very important indeed...
DO NOT make cash payments!

If you make payments through a bank, then I would advise that each time a payment is taken from your account, then you also send the letter as detailed above, to the PWC.

Keep copies of these letters, DO NOT LOSE THEM!
Make sure that each letter is dated with the same date that is on the cheque.
DO NOT make cash payments!


Thanks to kelloggs36 who posts on here for some of the above information