Proving Child Maintenance Paid

DaiJoA

Hi there, have just read something rather scary on another thread, that CSA do not recognise cheque payments between nrp and rp (no idea why but yet another ridiculous rule made up by the idiots that run the CSA).

Anyway, my partner pays childmaintenance to his ex weekly via internet banking directly from his bank account into hers, with the reference being '#### CM' (# being the childs name). The claim by his ex for CM is at an advisory-only level at the moment however she may well go through the CSA properly in the future as she's constantly trying to get more CM from my ex.

Does anyone know whether these internet banking transactions and the reference being in the childs name is enough evidence for the CSA should she choose to go through them?

Just a thought seeing as I wouldnt put it past her to claim that he hasn't paid her, given the fact that she wants more money and that the divorce battle is going from bad to worse.

Many thanks for your help.

shell_542

The CSA are only interested in child maintenance payments once they have contacted the Non Resident Parent. So the CSA will only expect payments from your partner once they either send him a letter or ring him. So important not to ignore them and use their online calculator to make an estimate of how much he will pay, and put it aside as arrears will be clocking up until the CSA do their assessment (which can take time in some cases)

So if she rings them up and tells them that your partner has never paid child maintenance, they will tell her there is nothing they can do about the past.

The only time it can cause problems, is if there has a been a case opened against an NRP years ago, due to the Parent With Contact being on Income Support and either the NRP didn't receive the correspondence or they ignored it. Then the PWC can claim she has received nothing and the CSA would charge the NRP arrears for those years.

In your partner's case though, it doesn't sound like he has anything to worry about "until" the PWC goes to the CSA. My husband is in the same situation. Pays a private agreement, via standing order every month. We know the PWC has not been on IS and we have not received any correspondence from the CSA, so he should be fine with regards to those payments "until" the PWC goes to the CSA (if she does at all).

Although paying directly into an account and marking it as "child support/maintenance for (child's name)" is a better way than just paying by cheque as then the PWC can turn around and say the money was for something else.

Hope that helps some.

DaiJoA

Thanks for that shell_542, hopefully it wont come to nastiness but our few dealings with the CSA in the past have been stressful to say the least, we're always getting 'your circumstances have changed' letters through, as my partner is self-employed and she's rung up and reported that he's had his accounts through - which he hasn't had yet and probably won't do until around October (not that makes any difference in terms of a PWC overpayment as nothing is 'official'). We are determined that the CM payment to her will stay as it is because she has moved miles away and my partner doesn't get to see the child as much, through no fault of his own (the child doesn't want to stay overnight with us). We refuse to see why she should move miles away from us and then benefit financially for it. When my partner does see his son, the total trip costs at least £10 in petrol, plus entertainments/food throughout the day etc. We rang the CSA to check the status of this and they said it wasn't their concern whilst a case isn't open with them. If she does open a case, the increase in CSA will be significant enough to probably force my partner to cut down his visits with his son even further as we cannot afford the petrol to go over there (the CSA probably wouldn't see it as a problem as it is 'only' around a 90 mile trip, but to us that £10 in fuel is a lot to use, we hardly use the car as it is because of petrol prices, really that £10 is our weeks' ration for fuel). So as usual the child and the NRP is the one to suffer whilst the PWC gets more money....and actually, on thinking about it, I'm now thinking she probably will go down the CSA route officially as if the government does go ahead and chop child tax credits for those earning over £30k, hers will be chopped as her partner earns over that (while she sits there unemployed trying to work out ways to screw us over, but thats another story!)

We'll just have to see what happens but it does look as if we have more trouble ahead of us, oh well!

shell_542

So has there been a case opened with the CSA in the past, for you to be receiving letters from the CSA?

Was a case opened and then shut?

That's when it can get complicated with back payments ...

DaiJoA

No there has never been an official case, she just contacts them for advice on what the payments should be, based on overnights and my partners income, and because it was the end of the financial year she keeps ringing them to ask him for his new accounts, or to say that my partner is not seeing his child for the previous amount of contacts that he was seeing him for before she moved. The letters are very ambiguous and there definitely was no case opened, but she likes to get them to send letters through from time to time to try and put the wind up us; as she can no longer use the divorce battle as weapon, she uses her son and the CM as weapons instead.

shell_542

I'd be a bit concerned as I wouldn't think the CSA would send any letters to your partner if they are not involved.

DaiJoA

Whenever we've rung up they've said its a private arrangement between the two of them??

shell_542

I'm not 100% sure, hopefully someone can clarify, but you can get the CSA to do an assessment for you and then have the NRP pay the PWC direct ... but then I think that the NRP still has to pay what the CSA deemed correct or they could be accruing arrears.

It just sounded bizarre that they have a private agreement but the CSA send letters?

Soubrette

shell_542 wrote: »

I'd be a bit concerned as I wouldn't think the CSA would send any letters to your partner if they are not involved.

I too would be concerned - it may be worth ringing the CSA and checking to see if there is a case open and what it's status is.

Sou

DaiJoA

shell_542 wrote: »

I'm not 100% sure, hopefully someone can clarify, but you can get the CSA to do an assessment for you and then have the NRP pay the PWC direct ... but then I think that the NRP still has to pay what the CSA deemed correct or they could be accruing arrears.

It just sounded bizarre that they have a private agreement but the CSA send letters?

That is what is happening here I'm pretty sure, as every time I've phoned up to enquire about various things (my partner has given them his permission to speak to me as he gets confused with things like that) they have said to me that the fine details of everything is down to the NRP and the PWC. We haven't heard anything in a while anyway but no doubt if they do take her tax credits away she'll be looking to us to pay more, but we are determined to stick to our guns that she should not profit from moving away (particularly when the child has been wearing the same shoes for nearly a year, which are so tight he can't actually get his foot in without opening the velcro fastenings right to their limit). We rang the CSA to enquire where we would stand on buying new ones for him and witholding that weeks' payment, only to be told again that it was nothing to do with them.

Time will tell, in the meantime its the child and the NRP that loses out

shell_542

Well if you're paying what the CSA assessed, then she can't get the payments increased, without good reason.

(For what it's worth, I'd buy the child those shoes as well even if it means not having the maintenance cut. As frustrating as it is, it's not the kiddies fault x - brace yourself for the backlash of that comment )