Maintenance payments.... what should they cover ?

arushofblood

My apologies if this has been covered numerous times before ! I did do a quick search.

I split with my husband 18 months ago. For the past year I've been paid a monthly maintenace figure ( 20% of his wages ? ) for our two children which, apart from alternate weekends, live with me.

Realising that money is tight ( for us all eh ? ) I decided to work a few figures out today. I was amazed to see that I'd forked out over £1200 last year alone for the kids school trips, clubs, events, instument tuition etc out of my own pocket.

Does the maintenance payment cover this type of thing or should I be entitled to additional help with these additional costs ?

Thanks for your help.

silvercar

I think your meant to budget for these extras. The maintenance payments will be all that your entitled to. Whether its worth asking your ex for any more contributions will depend on your relationship with him.

missk_ensington

Count yourself lucky you get CSA! My ex changes jobs every time he get s assessed (usually taking 8-10 months per job!) and then earns another £300 a week from DJing a local pub. Altogether his TAKE HOME pay is over £600 a week and I'm lucky if I get a penny!

In relation to your question, CSA is for the general upkeep of the child(ren) that would include heating, food, water, rent/mortgage, clothing...as well as school trips etc etc. It's merely a contribution towards everything a child costs you, and not for anything specific. x

arushofblood

Thanks for your replies. I know I'm lucky getting what I get. Due to a non related bad experience involving money, I've no trust and am determined not to be walked over again ! No more Mr Nice Guy.... er, or Girl

silkysmooth69

like i said before i had no choice but to claim income support he was in collage so he had no money coming in so why should he pay since we have had our own place he has never been out of work but still he has to pay even though he did not have an income

there are fathers and mothers out there been dodgying them for years it seems the truthful one who have come out worse
so now becose they want to stop the money from his wages we will not have a chance to survive which will leave us both unimploed and on income support becouse of the csa tell me thats fair

so the csa are forcing us to go on income support when we dont want to
we are willing to pay the bill but not 180 a month that takes the !!!!
when he has done his best to provide for us all for the past 5 years since our son been born

Zara33

Did you claim Income Support as a couple or as a single parent.

aMeLia'S~MuMMY

Have you checked to make sure that the assessment is correct ? As if the assesssment was incorrect then the arrears balance would be wrong. Has your husband telephoned the CSA to make an arrears agreement as he may be able to negotiate a lower figure with them ? ~ tell them that the QC that he is now paying arrears for is in his household and the amount he is paying is having an effect on the welfare of the children.

Don't be frightened to ring them the staff are only human ~ however as in any job they have to follow the rules.

I have pm'd you too

:A

silkysmooth69

have done all that and they are willing to accept the lowest of 180 a month

i can understand people not happy with csa as they spend years tracing people and they have allways had our situationa and details so why have not they contacted us before now ???????


my husband and i are genuine people and have been honest from the start
but you have men who i know who are living with there partner and are claiming income support and stupid excuses these are the people they should be after not married couples who had children at a young age who are now married and living together

can anyone understand why i am annoyed

my husband does not want to give us his job neither do i but the csa have give us no choice my husband gets 700 a month wages

minus 260 rent minus 100 c tax minus 180 csa minus gas electric water dirty water tv lisence and on top of that our own bills and money to provide for our family needs we get about 70 pound a week child tax and that which buys food and pay bills weekly

how can we survive on that

aMeLia'S~MuMMY

Given the circumstances I do think it harsh, however the CSA can actually take 40% of someones net income in order to recover arrears, they can also recover arrears from JSA so don't belive you will be safe there either. Try ringing back and speak to another member of staff , you may have more luck in reducing your monthly amount to a more managable figure

:A

silkysmooth69

the case has been passed on to a dept collection agency and thetre not willing to calculate the money as the csa have kinda shutdown not involved anymore they only want the money not intrested in how people gunna live amelias mummy do you have msn messenger? you seem to be the only one agreeing with me

Zara33

silkysmooth69 wrote: »

can anyone understand why i am annoyed

Might sound harsh but no i cannot understand why your annoyed. You claimed Income support, the state paid a percentage to support your child and now the state would like it back via the father.