Divorce settlement and adoption

RAS

DS4215 wrote: »

Wouldn't claiming to have adopted an extra 3 children (+ another one on the way that is his) potentially reduce the amount of maintenance he pays for the children from his marriage? That might be his strategy.

No

But living in a house with dependent children of any sort would allow him to exempt a percentage of his income. having an extra child make no difference. So if he was under the old rules 25% of his income is disregarded for CSA purposes because the household includes 3 or more children and 25% remains disregarded.

He is probably going to hope that he will get more of the capital from the divorce settlement because of the higher number of dependents but I cannot see a court acceptong that as the decision to adopt was voluntary (if it has happened).

jackyann

I do have some experience of stepparent adoption, and agree with all the posts that say it takes a long time!
It is quicker if the absent parent was never named, is dead or has a long-term prison sentence (so that only the resident parent has parental responsibility) but even so the process takes many months.
Also, as the children's welfare has to be taken into account, the court have to be satisfied that the step-parent is a long-term fixture, and want evidence of that.
These are the people with information: http://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/