how to write a child benefit contract ?

4everonline

Does anyone of you know how to type a child benefit/maintenance contract...? in other words, me and my wife are separted and i have been paying for my son every month without the CSA being involved and my wife agrees to that..but we are in need of a document (contract) to show that i have being paying and that she is satisfied with that ?

anyone know the format of the contract ?

cheers all...

gentlepurr

cant help re the formal contract, but my ex pays his maintenance into my bank a/c. that way he has proof from his bank that he has paid, and i accept the money, proof of acceptance. it works for us

xx

Prudent

Agreed, don't just make it cash in hand, because there is no proof you are paying. If your wife ever needed to claim benefits it would ahve to go through the csa and you do not want them persuing you for money you have paid. TBH a contrcat can be fairly meaningless because it is no proof of money being paid, which would be the issue if there was a dispute.

4everonline

i see. thks all. I shall what what you people have suggsted and i think the suggestions make very much sense. cheers all.

Scarlett1

paying by cheque is another way to have proof aswell

magyar

I have been paying maintenance without going via the CSA for years. What I recommend is
(1) Use the CSA's web site to work out what they would make you pay. By all means pay more. If of course you choose to pay less, the CSA might have a case in retrospectively claiming the money.
https://secureonline.dwp.gov.uk/csa/v1/new/calc.asp
(2) Make sure when you set up the standing order etc, that it goes with the reference [yourname] childmaintenance or similar then there is no doubt what the payment was for.

magyar

Of course, as a father who is dutifully paying their way, you are exactly the soft of soft target the worthless CSA spend our money chasing, so well done for avoiding them at all costs....

kelloggs36

You don't need a contract. The CSA can't back date any claims for maintenance. If your ex makes a claim to the CSA then they can only calculate it FROM THAT DATE ON. So all this time is totally irrelevent. Any contract you make is not enforceable in law, so it is a waste of time. The only thing I would suggest is that if your ex does contact the CSA, then get receipts for maintenance that states that the money paid is in respect of maintenace for your child/ren and both sign it. That will cover any period that the CSA go for which covers the date she make a claim to the date they get round to calculating how much you owe.

magyar

You may well be right about the CSA retrospectively claiming, I was assuming that they could.

However surely you're wrong about the contract issue. By definition, if something is a contract, it's enforceable in law (civil, of course, not criminal). I think this is a strong reason NOT to have a contract, if you have a contract saying that you will pay e.g. £200 a month, then unless the contract is worded correctly, you could have to pay BOTH the CSA and the other contract.

kelloggs36

I was told by my legal friends that it can't be enforced because there is already a law regarding child maintenance and that is the only one that can be enforced. It also works because the individual cannot take their ex to Court to enforce CSA maintenance, only the CSA can do that. The parent can't go to Court to get maintenance privately because they have to go to the CSA.

magyar

Kelloggs, I have to stand corrected. The amount payable by a NRP is in fact governed by the Child Support Act 1991 (further amended in 1995 and 2003, I think).

However, my understanding is that you only have to go to the CSA if you are claiming benefits. Otherwise you would be free to go to a court to enforce payments under the Child Support Act.