Query on changing the date of child maintenace?

[Deleted User]

Hi all,

Please can you help me with a question I have?

If child maintenance started being paid on the 30th of each month (in preparation for 1st of the next month bills coming out) and then changed to the 1st of the next month (without informing the other party), has a month been missed?

i.e. payment made on 30th January, used towards February bills.
The payment is then moved to 1st March, but doesn't clear the bank account until after the direct debits have already gone out, so the money has to be used for the next month, to prevent the same happening.

Has a month been missed or not? (i.e. February been missed).

I hope that is clear.

itsme1977

Hi all,

Please can you help me with a question I have?

If child maintenance started being paid on the 30th of each month (in preparation for 1st of the next month bills coming out) and then changed to the 1st of the next month (without informing the other party), has a month been missed?

i.e. payment made on 30th January, used towards February bills.
The payment is then moved to 1st March, but doesn't clear the bank account until after the direct debits have already gone out, so the money has to be used for the next month, to prevent the same happening.

Has a month been missed or not? (i.e. February been missed).

I hope that is clear.

I don't think so. If the payment is due on the 30th of each month and then is moved to the 1st, it is 1 or two days late depending on how many days are in the previous calendar month.

If the payment was due 30th Feb then due to there only being 28/29 days in Feb, then it will have come out on the 1st March and not the 28th Feb as I don't believe standing orders or direct debits leave an account earlier than the due date. I could be wrong however and happy to be corrected!

[Deleted User]

Yes I see what you mean. I could see if from both sides of the coin, but I couldn't decide which was right. Thanks.

tea_lover

So long as there's 12 payments in the year, then no, a payment hasn't been missed. It would be good manners to inform of a change of date before it takes place though.

PeacefulWaters

Assuming it's a standing order the 30th of the month isn't a great date to pay.

February screws it up every year.

ecgirl07

If the payments ran

30 Novemeber 2015
30 December 2016
30 January 2016
1st March 2016
1st April 2016
Then presume payments 1st May to 1st December 2016 that would only be 11 payments in 2016.

Then yes February 2016 has been missed out...

This presumes 12 payments on the 30th of the month (or nearest banking date) in 2015.

To argue there was no missed payment you would have to go back to the very start and count the number of payments against the number of months due.

Person_one

If the 1st March payment was to cover Feb but paid in late then there should have been a payment on the 30th of March as well, was there?

[Deleted User]

No there wasn't an extra payment

Say for example a payment was made on 30th January the next one was 1st March. Therefore I have had to hold back onto March's payment (forfeiting March) in order to have enough money waiting to pay for April.

All without any notice. I did query this and was told "I forgot".

bluebell13

If the February payment was paid on 1st March then there should be another payment at the end of March to get things back on track. If all other payments are made on 30th of the month then the February one is due on the 28th/29th.

mark5

The 12th payment for the year would only be a day in to the new year though presuming it's made on New Year's Day. So yes only 11 payments in the calendar year but they are not a month behind, they are 1 maybe 2 days behind at most.

To be a month behind you would have had to have waited until March 30th for the payment.

If the person paying continues to always pay on the 1st then I can't see a problem providing they acknowledge the payments are going to end on March 1st instead of feb 30th for example when the child is 18 or when ever the payments are due to end.

mark5

Deleted_User wrote: »

No there wasn't an extra payment

Say for example a payment was made on 30th January the next one was 1st March. Therefore I have had to hold back onto March's payment (forfeiting March) in order to have enough money waiting to pay for April.

All without any notice. I did query this and was told "I forgot".

Surely the 1st of April would cover April though if payments continued to be made on the 1st in future?

Is there a deadline date for when the funds should be cleared in you account?