Help! What child support shall I pay while on Job Seekers Allowance?

Onward_2

Dear All

Your help please. I have been made redundant and have paid full child support (equivalent financial amount but not done through CSA) until my notice period pay (PILON) ran out. I am now on Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and looking for work.
My ex is pressuring me for money as she knows I saved knowing I was going to be made redundant so that I could keep my monthly mortgage payments up for a good while. She is working, lives in a mortgage free 4 bed house due to the divorce settlement and gets all child benefits due for the kids even though I have the kids 2 nights a week during school time and half of all holidays. Now that I'm unemployed I've not asked her for any money as she's working.

I'd like your comments as to how much I should legally pay, and how much you guys would actually pay from a moral perspective, while on JSA. I will obviously go back to paying normal CSA rates when back in work.

Thanks in advance

HappyMJ

Onward wrote: »

Dear All

Your help please. I have been made redundant and have paid full child support (equivalent financial amount but not done through CSA) until my notice period pay (PILON) ran out. I am now on Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and looking for work.
My ex is pressuring me for money as she knows I saved knowing I was going to be made redundant so that I could keep my monthly mortgage payments up for a good while. She is working, lives in a mortgage free 4 bed house due to the divorce settlement and gets all child benefits due for the kids even though I have the kids 2 nights a week during school time and half of all holidays. Now that I'm unemployed I've not asked her for any money as she's working.

I'd like your comments as to how much I should legally pay, and how much you guys would actually pay from a moral perspective, while on JSA. I will obviously go back to paying normal CSA rates when back in work.

Thanks in advance

£5 per week.

There is a CSA calculator which will help you calculate the amount.

duchy

Legally she needs to pay you nothing for the nights you have your own children to stay.

Legally what you should be paying her can be calculated using the CSA calculator on the gov.uk site.

Morally -what you should be paying to support your children is another matter and a personal decision. Some people would go without food to pay for their kids others would pay the minimum the law says ..... Why would other people's morals be of any concern - Surely as a parent you know your own morals ?

RAS

It rather depends on how the savings and the mortgage stack up.

Will you be able to apply for Mortgage interest support after 13 weeks?

Basicaly I think you need to have 6 months mortgage at least and maybe 12 months in savings. have you applied for CTB? What is your Council's rules (anything from 0-30% depending on area).

If you get mortgage interest support then you could give your ex something extra. Until you know the situation, I think you need to be careful.

Afterall if you were still married and you were redundant all you would get as a couple is Conts JSA for 6 months.

EDIT: Just make sure that you are not seen spending mega-bucks on Chrissie presents for the kids and not paying money to the ex. That is likely to rile.

Bluemeanie_2

You have been unfortunate to hit hard times. If you've paid the "right" amount while working then I would cut back to the £5 out of jobseekers. My reasoning for this is, if you were still with the Mother, you would all have to adjust as family to your circumstances of being made redundant so in my opinion this is no difference. Everyone seems to bleat that when you have a pay rise the kids should benefit regardless of the living situation so I argue the same the other way. If you can genuinely and want to pay more then of course do.

Onward_2

Thanks everyone for your replies. Appreciated.

GingerFurball_2

£5 a week. Your savings are irrelevant when it comes to determining child support.

I'm not sure how any redundancy pay off would be factored in, but if you can afford to and want to pay more then that's your call. £5 a week is all you need to pay as per the CSA's own guidelines though.

madbadrob

Your ex sounds like my ex OP. I told her to go and jump for anything and then told my kids if they need anything to just ask me. The ex went to the CSA and she ended up with £5 a week stopped from my JSA which made me laugh. Now I am back in work and have shown the CSA that I am contributing by giving my children what they need when they need it so now I am back to not having to pay anything via them. I am paying more this way a week but I know that my kids are benefiting from it and not her Firday and Saturday nights out on the drink

markmorb

madbadrob wrote: »

Your ex sounds like my ex OP. I told her to go and jump for anything and then told my kids if they need anything to just ask me. The ex went to the CSA and she ended up with £5 a week stopped from my JSA which made me laugh. Now I am back in work and have shown the CSA that I am contributing by giving my children what they need when they need it so now I am back to not having to pay anything via them. I am paying more this way a week but I know that my kids are benefiting from it and not her Firday and Saturday nights out on the drink

I am very interested in your statement above. I am more than happy to pay the amount the CSA guidelines suggest for my Child but I am not so happy about paying it direct to my ex as I have my Daughter approx 40% of the time and I see next to nothing for the money I provide to my Ex. I still pay for everything when she is round mine as well as buy clothes, etc. and the only thing my Ex pays for that I don't is school uniform. She also earns more money than me, has far smaller outgoings and gets all Child benefits. However, I didn't realise that I could "prove" to the CSA that I am contributing directly to my daughters welfare and therefore not have to pay direct to my ex? Is this really the case?

Thanks,

FBaby

Now I am back in work and have shown the CSA that I am contributing by giving my children what they need when they need it so now I am back to not having to pay anything via them.

Since when does the csa allow nrp to contribute towards their children by just giving them what they 'need'? Either you are not declairing your actual income (self-employed) or you are building up arreas without realising it.

Out of curiosity, how do you give them electricity when they need it to wash their clothes? How do you give them petrol for them to be taken to school or activities? Gas so that they wake up in a warm house?

alwaysonthego_2

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