redundancy & child maintenance

elliotlyla

hi ive been made redundant and i believe (at the moment) my last payday will be friday 13th January, my query is what type of payment do i need to make to my ex for the child maintenance payments?

We have a paper trail agreement (via direct debit.standing order) as advised by my solicitor, so its not through csa, i know its my children that it goes towards but the amount i have been paying is obviously while ive been in employment, i just want a liitle advise as to how much is required now im out of work!

any help would be great, thanks

kevin137

Are you getting a redundancy payment, that may be something you are expected to use, certainly if it is above a certain amount and if you had been using the CSA, as for what you should be paying... That is a different matter. If you are eligible for benefits, then the amount the CSA would deduct is currently £5 a week.

Does your ex know your situation...? And is there any chance of quick employment...? Or are you going to hold out for what you want to do for work...? These are all things that could effect your relationship with your ex regarding payments, if you are seen to take anything so you can support your kids, it will be a lot easier, if you sit on your !!!! s/he will get the hump and struggle...

The legalities are dependant on the type of agreement you have made and if it is court ordered or not, it is something you have to decide on what is best in your current situation for you.

As for any payment you have previously made, until s/he went to the CSA there would be no arrears, if s/he thinks you are messing around to get out of paying then it will end up with the CSA that you can be sure of, and that is something you really need to try and avoid...

So you know what would be expected if you are working, 1 child is 15% of net, 2 = 20%, 3+ - 25%... If you have been paying around that sort of money, then she would have no reason to involve them... This is where it will get hard though, as some people expect you to pay the same regardless of income...!

The only thing i would say is a definite, do NOT get yourself into debt with loans, credit cards etc to pay maintenance that the CSA would not collect from you should you be using them...!

CornishBloke29

elliotlyla wrote: »

any help would be great, thanks

You MUST put in a change of circumstances. The CSA do not backdate assessments if you are late.

Enclose your redundancy notice and send it recorded and ask the CSA to RETURN you the original notice. That way you can claim compensation if they dont return it. Its £150 in your pocket, or £46 if claimed through Royal Mail.

EclipsedMind

As the OP is not on any form of CSA the amount he should be paying is whatever he feels he can / can agree with his ex. Whilst you are out of work can you offset some of teh pwc's costs by having teh kids more?

If he was on csa and claiming jobseekers I believe that the CSA would take 5 pw.

So imho you need to actually as a chat with your ex and discuss the issue and agree it between teh two of you and if she does not like taht then she can go to the csa.

Get working again asap and do not go into debt to fund mainenace payments you really can't afford or you will end up in a mess later on. Sadly for all concerned its belt tightening just like it would be if you were still together.

EM