Payments to Ex after 1 leaves for Uni

Bulldogbri

Hi All


Hoping someone out there can advise me. I'm divorced with 2 children living with their Mum. I've paid my maintenance (now at £59pw) as calculated on the CSA web site with no problems. Now My eldest is looking to go to Uni in the summer, I've offered to pay direct to her, her £50pw to help cover her costs while still paying half of what the CSA calculated to their mum for the other child. I've now been told that the half I still would be paying to their mum, isn't enough and the CSA calculator has worked out that just paying for the one at home is £43 not £30 as I hoped. It doesn't take in to account that I'm still Over paying for 1 at Uni.

This means I'll be paying £93pw instead of £80pw. Why?

shoe*diva79

Because you are not legally bound to pay your eldest who attends uni any child maintenance. Anything you give child 1 is at your discretion.

Takeaway_Addict

Bulldogbri wrote: »

Hi All


Hoping someone out there can advise me. I'm divorced with 2 children living with their Mum. I've paid my maintenance (now at £59pw) as calculated on the CSA web site with no problems. Now My eldest is looking to go to Uni in the summer, I've offered to pay direct to her, her £50pw to help cover her costs while still paying half of what the CSA calculated to their mum for the other child. I've now been told that the half I still would be paying to their mum, isn't enough and the CSA calculator has worked out that just paying for the one at home is £43 not £30 as I hoped. It doesn't take in to account that I'm still Over paying for 1 at Uni.

This means I'll be paying £93pw instead of £80pw. Why?

Because the cost of raising two kids isn't directly double. For Example, electric in the house won't be pro rata'd down by 1/4.

justontime

CSA takes no account of what you pay for the young adult at uni, so your CSA assessment will be based on just one child which is a different percentage (not half of the amount for 2 children).

The uni funding will be assessed on the income going into the PWCs household, so it will look at her income and that of her live in partner if she has one. Your eldest may get some grant funding and possibly some bursary funding from her chosen uni as well as the student loan. If you can't afford to pay £50 per week for the daughter at uni you need to say so now. Perhaps it would be better to offer £40 per week that she can rely on and then give her a bit extra now and then if you can manage it. Most students get some sort of part time work, (mine did and it was very good experience for them) so maybe you should expect your daughter to do that by the second year at uni so that she will not need as much from you. There are lots of ways to help uni students even if you can't give as much as you would like in hard cash every week. As long as your daughter knows that she can turn to you if she is struggling I'm sure she will cope.

Lovetoread

What the others have said is correct.

Assuming you're on CS2 (the one I know most about), you'll be paying 20% of your net income for your two children. Once your eldest reaches either August after their 19th birthday or starts uni, which ever comes first, they will not qualify anymore for child maintenance. Your payments will then be reduced to 15% of your net income for your youngest child, not 10% like you were hoping.

My advice if you want to keep paying, is to pay your eldest child the extra 5% (ie, if your payments will drop from £59 per week to £43 per week, pay your eldest the difference, £16 per week). That way they will get a little extra which they can then budget for themselves and you won't be any more out of pocket than before. I'd also advise them to get a part time job to give them a bit of extra pocket money too.