CSA worry

geejayem

Hi,all...I have stupidly got a girl pregnant,and as the relationship has broken up she's already warning me that she is getting the csa involved.
She already has three small kids to 2 dads(yes i know,i should have seen it coming)who don't pay any maintainence for their kids.
My 'ex' is unemployed on benefits..
I have two jobs,the first one pays me £19500 per annum,the second one pays me about £6000 per annum.
I already have a daughter who recieves maintainence off me regularly(not through the csa) and i own a house,still paying mortgage.
My ex has also made it clear that i will not be allowed any contact with the child once it is born,although i can't see how she can do this
Can anyone tell me what i can expect to get hit for(worst case).Thanks

missmontana

Could you not make a private agreement with this girl? Just make sure you do it properly through the bank and not cash in hand.

Work out on the csa site, using thier calculator how much you would have to pay her. Taking into consideration your other child too.

As of April she will get all of it even tho she is on benefits.

When is the baby due? Maybe a bit of support before the baby arrives will lessen her threats to get the CSA involved?

Donedoingdebt

If you continue to keep the first ex on a private arrangement, then the CSA will take 15% of your total net pay for 2nd ex.

If you decide this is too expensive, then you can include your first ex in the CSA calculation.

Then they will take 20% of your net pay & divide it equally between the 2 PWCs ie: 10% each.

The mortgage payments will not make any difference to the assessment.

Kimitatsu

Can I suggest you get a DNA test once baby is born so that you know it is yours? Before I get shouted at just strikes me that she has 3 little ones already, and as soon as she is pregnant she splits up with you - too late to tell you to be careful so before you put your name on the birth certificate please get a test.

If you want to see the baby you will have parental rights so you can chase her through the courts for a contact order. As the baby is not yet born then you should have no difficulty in getting one granted.

Blonde_Bint

OP Kimitatsu's absolutely right.

Get a paternity test as soon as, I dont think they are cheap but better to be certain than suffer years of cr*p to find out you werent actually the babys father.

There was a thread on here not long back where someone found out after about 10 yrs of paying he wasnt childs father after all, quite apart from the money, fact is if your not the childs father the mother can stop you seeing the child and if your not the father what can you do. To save your self substantial heartache down the line MAKE CERTAIN YOU ARE THE FATHER. please:)

Blue_Elephant

Don't pay for the paternity test yourself initially. The claim won't start until they send the forms to you. Note that the date the CSA use is the date they send it, not the date they receive it.

On that form you will be asked if you accept paternity of the child, as long as you dispute paternity before they have presumed parentage (because you've ignored them for example) they will pay for it. They get the tests at a discount, and will only ask you for the money back if you turn out to be the father. If you're not, they will write that payment off and it won't cost you a penny. Even if you turn out to be the father and have to pay for it, it'll be cheaper than doing it yourself. Plus they won't accept tests from any company except the one they use.

The CSA will use both of your incomes to assess, and they only use the income AFTER Tax, NI and pension contributions. You can get your other child taken into account by telling the CSA you have a "non resident relevant other child" - they will calculate as though they were handling both cases.

Oh and remind your ex if she's on benefits that claiming maintenance of any sort (even privately) means she will have to declare it to the benefits agency and her benefits WILL be reduced.

Go talk to relate etc about access

speedster

a couple of errors there.

firstly, the csa only use nrp's income when doing an asessment.

secondly, there is a benefit disregard of £40 a week, soon to be unlimited.

missmontana

speedster wrote: »

a couple of errors there.

firstly, the csa only use nrp's income when doing an asessment.

secondly, there is a benefit disregard of £40 a week, soon to be unlimited.

I think Blue Ele meant both the OP's jobs, hence both incomes.

Its still only £20 pw, Not sure the £40 pw is ever going to apply! (but who knows on that one)

Maybe start putting money away now (if the baby turns out to be yours) so you will have funds ready for when you get to see baby.

speedster

missmontana wrote: »

I think Blue Ele meant both the OP's jobs, hence both incomes.

Its still only £20 pw, Not sure the £40 pw is ever going to apply! (but who knows on that one)

Maybe start putting money away now (if the baby turns out to be yours) so you will have funds ready for when you get to see baby.

my bad, mis read both incomes bit.

i thought the £40 disregard was already in with unlimited on the cards soon too???

Blue_Elephant

With reference to the benefit disregard, it's the benefits agency that deal with that now, I didn't say that benefits stop completely, just gets reduced. So unless her benefits are less than £20 (or £40 when this takes place) her benefits will be affected. And yes, I meant both the OP's jobs.

missmontana

I have been told that at the moment its £20 disregard.... most people know this already, chap on the phone from CSA said it was going to be £40 from April and full disregard from October..... but then other sources say the full disregard will happen in April... hence why I really don't know...