Advice Needed

Jezbenbow

I dont post here much but Ive used the site for advice for a few years so I was hoping that someone could advise me on what to do regarding child maitenance.

Myself and my partner have decided to call it a day and to go our seperate ways. We've been living together in her house for the last 4 years and I'm currently in the process of finding myself a new place to live. We have a 2 year old daughter together and we have agreed to stay very good friends. At the moment I am still living under the same roof until I find a new flat and we are getting along okay all things considered.

We've decided to keep on really good terms with each other so not to disrupt and confuse our little girl too much.

The question is, do I now have to contact the CSA to arrange child maintenance payments? My ex seems to think that we can come to some agreement ourselves without getting the CSA involved. Is this the case and if so do we have to go legal in some way?

I am more than willing to pay what I can afford to my daughter and I hope to keep really good contact with her. My ex has even told me that I would be more than welcome to go round some evenings for tea.

What do I need to do?

Many thanks.

shell_542

If you go onto the CSA website they have a calculator on there that you can use to see how much they suggest you pay. You can then use these amounts as an estimate and set up your own private agreement. This is definitely the best way to go if you're both going to cooperate.

You don't need to make it legal in anyway, although it would be advisable to pay by standing order and somehow reference Child Support on the payments so you have evidence you have been paying or if you give your ex cash then get her to sign a receipt of some sort so you have evidence of paying and her receiving the money, showing again that it is for Child Support. Just in case something happens in the future and things aren't so amicable anymore (although I hope they stay that way)

If you'd like, just for both of yours piece of mind, there is a Private Agreement Form you could both sign. It isn't a legal document but it's something in writing for you both to keep.

You can print it off from here ...

http://www.cmoptions.org/en/pdfs/CMO_Private_form.pdf

Jezbenbow

Thanks for the quick reply shell. The agreement form you linked is very useful.

I had a quick search on the tinterweb and came across a very useful site which is full of information which might be useful to others:

www.separateddads.co.uk

I've also used the CSA calculator and was very suprise at how little it estimated I would have to pay. I am willing to pay more if possible through a mutual agreement with my ex.

I'll talk to my ex tonight and show her my findings.

Thanks again for the great advice. I do appreciate it.

JEZ

onetomany

if your parner is going on certain benifits she will have to go to csa hope you get it sorted x

shell_542

onetomany wrote: »

if your parner is going on certain benifits she will have to go to csa hope you get it sorted x

That isn't actually true anymore.

Since October 2008, all parents have been able to choose either a private or statutory maintenance arrangement, according to their particular circumstances.

It's now up to the PWC to contact the benefits people and declare how much maintenance they get and can then adjust their benefit amounts.