Non Resident parent needing advice please..

foyers

Hi,
My son and his girlfriend split up about 18 months ago. My son only takes home about £200 a week and currently pays his ex £200 a month for their 6 year old son.
There is a bit of emotional blackmail involved I think and ex says she needs that amount as electricity is so expensive.
At my suggestion my son raised with her the possibility of getting the CSA to set a figure but she flew off the handle, accusing him of "threatening her with the CSA."
She has subsequently told him that she would get much more if the CSA was involved so he'd better just leave it the way it is.
I've done the Googling and know what he should be paying, can he start the ball rolling with CSA or would she have to do it?
Grateful for advice on this please.

DUTR

foyers wrote: »

Hi,
My son and his girlfriend split up about 18 months ago. My son only takes home about £200 a week and currently pays his ex £200 a month for their 6 year old son.
There is a bit of emotional blackmail involved I think and ex says she needs that amount as electricity is so expensive.
At my suggestion my son raised with her the possibility of getting the CSA to set a figure but she flew off the handle, accusing him of "threatening her with the CSA."
She has subsequently told him that she would get much more if the CSA was involved so he'd better just leave it the way it is.
I've done the Googling and know what he should be paying, can he start the ball rolling with CSA or would she have to do it?
Grateful for advice on this please.

Yes he can start the ball rolling, £30 per week on the figures you have branded.

nicky3

I think she has to do it, but he could force her hand by not paying, ad of course he could always just pay her the amount that he would have to pay if the CSA were involved. You really don't want the CSA in your life if it can be avoided.

nicky3

ah sorry, I thought you had to be in possession of child benefit to start a claim, my mistake

nicky3

I still wouldn't do it though, just pay her what she is due, maybe a little more so she doesn't involve CSA cos you really don't want them anywhere near.

Dontknowanymore

Tell him to start paying her the correct amount, then when she gives him the 'I'm going to the CSA' line, tell him to send her a link to the calculator which shows how much she is entitled to receive for the child.
No need for him to get CSA involved, just make sure there is proof of what he has paid her.

nicky3

yes, proof is absolutely vital

shoe*diva79

Proof isnt vital if there is no previous case. I would suggest he pays her what the csa calc says (this is the minimum, he can pay more if he chooses) and let her go to the CSA. If she starts a case then the case will be backdated to the date your son is contacted so if the CSA contact him he should stop paying until a assessment is carried out.

Cally_Smart

Yes,make sure your son gets dated receipts stating the money paid to her is being taken as Child Maintenance for (childs name ) or the pwc(parent with care) could deny it years down the line...many years... We are exactly in that situation !!Having proof of money paid to her bank account will not be enough.The CSA believe the pwc & you could have to pay it all again as arrears. They can take up to 40% of your income if in arrears situation! We had to ask for a tribunal to get the children that live with us taken off the arrears assessment as we had been paying the pwc direct and didn't know the CSA were involved.Hope your son can come to an arrangement without involving the CSA ..the powers they have are unbelievable & they tend to believe everything the pwc tells them! A lot of nrp's are having difficulty getting their reduction for overnight stays(one seventh off for each sleep) as the pwc wont admit when the nrp has them so they wont lose any money. Soon the CSA will charge the pwc for using the CSA & the nrp will have to pay possibly 20% more to use the service !!(I use the term very loosely!)

DUTR

nicky3 wrote: »

I still wouldn't do it though, just pay her what she is due, maybe a little more so she doesn't involve CSA cos you really don't want them anywhere near.

Why is that?
There are many 1000s of NRPs that have smooth cases and the NRP is actually protected against those PWCs that whatever they recieve is never enough.

PreludeForTimeFeelers

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

Proof isnt vital if there is no previous case. I would suggest he pays her what the csa calc says (this is the minimum, he can pay more if he chooses) and let her go to the CSA. If she starts a case then the case will be backdated to the date your son is contacted so if the CSA contact him he should stop paying until a assessment is carried out.

Yup - while there's no CSA case there's no real need for proof: technically the non-resident parent doesn't have to pay anything at all right now, so there's nothing owed and the CSA wouldn't have the jurisdiction to ask him to make payments for this time period.

He should be paying her about £130 a month - that's quite a considerable difference. I'd advise him to let her know that's the amount he'd pay through the CSA, not the £200 she's demanding.

As has been pointed out, he can legally open a case to pay child maintenance and there's not really anything she can do to stop that. One thing to bear in mind though would be that his liability to pay child maintenance would begin as soon as he contacted them - child maintenance is paid in arrears too not in advance, ie if he opened a case on the 1st then his first payment on the system would be on the 8th, for the period of the 1st to the 7th. I'm not sure if he currently pays in advance or for the month gone, if it's in advance he'll have to make sure he gets his timings right to avoid double paying a month, ie if he usually pays at the start if the month to cover that month then I'd apply at the end of the month, jut before the next payment is due. This is because any payments made (or not made) before the CSA's involvement wouldn't be considered.