I think my partner's CS payments are too high!!! What can we do?

moneypuddle

Hello everyone

My partner has two children from previous relationships. One was born from a one night stand when a condom split earlier this year, and the other was born 13 years ago when he was 18 - young and stupid.

The first son, his 13 year old lives around 200 miles away with his mother and her new partner, and the second son (6 months old) lives in the same city as us with his mother.

My partner's wage varies dramatically from one month to the next, depending on the hours that are available to him and the level of performance-related bonus he achieves eg from £800 to £1200.

The second woman, with the baby contacted the CSA a few months ago and it has taken this long to get back in touch and let him know what his monthly payments will be. They contacted him by post today and said because he has two children, his child support payments should be 25% of his earnings ie £200 a month. (£100 for each children) and he will be paying this from his next pay onwards.

He wasn't paying anything for either children before this. His first son's mother was happy not to accept payment as she is wit a wealthy partner and the second woman had applied, but as I said the CSA took ages to look into the situation and have only just got back to him.

My question is for someone that earns just £800 some months, £200 seems really high. His rent is £525 (a one bed flat so nothing extravagant), water, gas and elec are £100, Phone £30, Food £100, Travel to work £30, which already totals around £800, without him going anywhere or doing anything. Then there are all the other bits - tv license, home insurance, phone insurance etc

I know some will say if he had the kids he needs to pay for them, and I do agree with that. But is there any way this can be contested as he really is at risk of losing his flat, then i guess his job and then there would be NO money available to either of them at all?

There is no chance of an agreement being struck up between the most recent mother as she is crazy as hell, has been in trouble with the police for stalking and acting irrationally and they do not speak at all.

Can anyone who has been in a situation offer me advice? Its really getting me down

DUTR

The average of between £1200-£800 per month is £1000 per month, csa 2 for 2 children is 20%, 20%*£1000= £200 hey presto
Bargain amount if you ask me, people pay more than that for 1 child.
All the rest of rubbish around the condom split or young and foolish, don't count for anything I'm afraid, we all have a story of going 'there' just once too often
In fact if they are asking for £200 per month, that includes some kind of arrears so he is definately onto a bargain.
Do you have any dependant children between the two of you?

shell_542

Why is he paying 25%? Has he some arrears to clear and then it will reduce? As the amount for 2 children is 20%.

I wouldn't bother getting into the details of how the children came about. The fact is they are here now and he has an obligation to pay ... Plus you'll probably get some strong comments from posters on here.

He needs to make sure the assessment is correct. They normally take an average of 3 payslips, so unfortunately if he receives less pay one month, he'll still have the higher child support to pay.

If his income stays lower for a while, it might be worth sending in another 3 payslips with the lower amount to get a reassessment.

Unfortunately the CSA are not interested in any outgoings and don't care if the NRP cannot afford the amount, hence some NRPs are forced to give up work as they cannot afford to live. (I know some do it to avoid paying too)

Debicj

If he has 2 children to pay for, then it would be 20% of his income that he has to pay to the CSA. The amount may be more if arrears have built up. They would then split that between the 2 PWC. There is no way to get this amount reduced as rent, debts, etc. are not taken into account.

shell_542

Ah there you go, DUTR did the maths and it does look like 20%.

moneypuddle

shell_542 wrote: »

I wouldn't bother getting into the details of how the children came about. The fact is they are here now and he has an obligation to pay ... Plus you'll probably get some strong comments from posters on here.

Thanks for all the responses. I was only mentionning how they came about for the posters on here. This wouldn't be brought up to the CSA. Just giving some background, so you could see why he's not in touch with the mothers. And I thought somone might ask me why my partner has a young baby with someone else.

I just find it hard to believe they cant take into consideration what your outgoings are. How can he live and pay rent etc?

DUTR

moneypuddle wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses. I was only mentionning how they came about for the posters on here. This wouldn't be brought up to the CSA. Just giving some background, so you could see why he's not in touch with the mothers. And I thought somone might ask me why my partner has a young baby with someone else.

I just find it hard to believe they cant take into consideration what your outgoings are. How can he live and pay rent etc?

With CSA 1 the living expenses were considered, with csa2 it is just a straight % of net pay 15, 20 or 25% for 1, 2 3or more children.
Contact and child support are seperate items and contact is not dealt with via the csa.

You can probably already see that if certain expenses were allowed for then it could open up loopholes to reduce contribution

shell_542

moneypuddle wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses. I was only mentionning how they came about for the posters on here. This wouldn't be brought up to the CSA. Just giving some background, so you could see why he's not in touch with the mothers. And I thought somone might ask me why my partner has a young baby with someone else.

I just find it hard to believe they cant take into consideration what your outgoings are. How can he live and pay rent etc?

I do understand, I was just giving you a heads up in case you had any comments about what you had written.

JulietAmber_2

Oh - and don't forget if you have a child together and claim working and child tax credits - they'll take that as his income too!

karenx

moneypuddle wrote: »

I just find it hard to believe they cant take into consideration what your outgoings are. How can he live and pay rent etc?

Because there are alot of NRP who would gladly take on a high mortgage, loans etc to reduce the amount they had after getting paid just to stop the CSA taking the money!
So it just wouldnt work that way! Much easier just to take a flat rate for the amount of children they have to pay for. Fair and easy

AnxiousMum

Maybe he could reduce his outgoings each month. If he's paying £525 for a one bedroom flat, would he consider moving into a house share or something similar and reduce his outgoings? PWC's often have to cut back on things too in order to help provide for their children.