Child maintenance

antbann

Hi

Can anyone advise me could I contact the CSA and ask them if my ex wife still claims child benefit for my children as I don't have anything to dom with her and she won't tell me if the kids are still in full time education?

Thanks

poppy12345

You could try but they may not tell you any information regarding what she's actually claiming.

tacpot12

You could ask the children if you are in contact with them. If you are not, could another member of the family ask them for you?

This might be a good time to reconnect with the children if you are not in the habit of being in touch. I would suggest that you might consider paying the children some maintenance directly to them, even if your obligation to pay it to your ex-wife has ended. They might need the money more than you do.  

If she is being awkward, you could assume the children are not in education, and stop paying the child maintenance. I would suggest you inform the CMS that as far as you know the children are no longer in F/T education and that you are not paying because your liability to pay child maintenance has ended. Let them get the evidence that your ex should be giving you. If you do stop paying, you should save them money into a savings account as CMS will chase you for it if they receive confirmation from your ex that the children are still in f/t education, and you will owe it, so it would be best to have the money ready to pay over immediately. Note that there have been many posts of MSE where the CMS have been chasing arrears for child maintenance going back many years. In some cases, the 'children' are now in their thirties! So this is a high-risk strategy that could come back to bite you in the future.