child maintenance

valleyboy22

hi all,


Sorry if this is I the wrong section firstly.


Due to circumstance's with my ex girlfriend and her boyfriend in regards to my 12 year old son which is now living with me. I have been paying maintenance from the day he was born and always bought him additional stuff of top of that, but now he has been living with me since last July I have not had a penny off her and not even my son has anything not even at Christmas. Due to the circumstances in him moving in with me and my partner I am now looking into child maintenance but was wondering now she don't work but her partner does and they have their own house and another two children which are his, can I still claim off her?
I will go down the route of asking her for money first to keep it as civil as possible but if she refuses then I will choose the CSA route.
Thanks

Caz3121

her partners income will not come into it, only her own income. Plus maintenance would be discounted for the 2 children that are in her household
Are you claiming the child benefit and tax credits for your son?
there is a Child Support thread here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=140

valleyboy22

thanks for the reply. Yeah claiming both for him now he is living with me. So basically she might get away with not paying me anything then?

McKneff

While I sympathise with you, how can she pay you anything if she has nothing.


You really cant expect this total stranger to pay maintenance to you.


Still speak to her, and start a claim anyway, if she is claiming jsa she may have to pay you a nominal amount.

valleyboy22

Yeah I will go through her first and go from there. If no joy then I will try CSA. Really feel this is unfair in one respect because she has basically cut any helping in buying him anything like clothes school stuff etc since he has been living with us.

FBaby

Did she ever have a job? If so and she gave it up conveniently when your son moved, then it shows the type of mother she is, but the law support people like her and would consider that her partner has no liability towards the child even though your partner would be expected to support him solely if you lost your job. Thankfully, your son will learn to appreciate who really cares about his well-being.

valleyboy22

She gave up work because other two kids by her partner so decided to stay at home mother. Well I will see what she says and go from there I suppose but I don't feel this is fair or right.
Thanks for the replies

System

McKneff wrote: »

While I sympathise with you, how can she pay you anything if she has nothing.

You really cant expect this total stranger to pay maintenance to you.

Unfortunately aboth those points, although correct, don't seem to be the attitude of quite a few female PWCs on these boards.

pmlindyloo

Does the mother have visitation rights?

So sad for your son.

Unfortunately many parents who do not have custody seem to believe that the CB and child credits make up for their not paying child support.

FBaby

What were the circumstances of your son moving with you? As always I expect it comes down to emotional issues. She probably feels let down by her son for deciding to live with you instead of her and this becomes translated with 'if he thinks he can have it better at his dad, then his dad can support him on his own'

Technically, you've stopped paying maintenance so you should that additional income in to put towards your son in addition to the additional tax credits so your son should be missing out. If you can support your son adequately, then I would let it go however unfair it is, what matter is your son's stability.

valleyboy22

His step dad was hitting him and been charged for it and in process of court. She sided with her boyfriend and nor her son in which she admitted she knew what was going on.