Child Maintenance - lump sum?

Whiterose23

My ex has offered to pay the outstanding balance of what he owes in child maintenance as a lump sum. My youngest is just 17 and he is offering to pay an amount that covers up to her 19th birthday. Should I take it or should I continue with monthly payments? The amount is around £7000. Not sure if there are pros and cons.

ZaSa1418

Do you need 7k all in one hit?  How does he know he is only liable for 7k in the next 2 years? 

There are probably many pros and cons e.g. he could get a huge payrise and his calculation could go up which means you would receive less but then he could also lose his job and his calculation would then be nil. 

tacpot12

Are you claiming any benefits that might be affected if you had another £7000 of savings? 

Are you sure that you won't spend it all at once if it is paid as a lump sum? 

Whiterose23

Thank you for taking the time to respond. He added up his monthly payments from now till daughter is 19 to reach the total and has always paid above CSA rates voluntarily so I haven’t kept a check on his income as I was able to manage comfortably.
My concern was if my daughter decides to go to university but I’m sure he would help out in some way if that was the case.
However, I’ve decided to leave things as they are as a lump sum could easily disappear if something came up and I feel the money should remain as a payment to help pay for the children and their needs on a monthly basis rather than paid off in one hit.

poppy12345

Whiterose23 said:

My concern was if my daughter decides to go to university but I’m sure he would help out in some way if that was the case.

Child maintenance stops when a young person leaves full time non advanced education, which would be the same time as child benefit/tax credits etc. Usually a person in Uni would have a student loan to help and work along side that as extra income.

Whiterose23

poppy12345 said:

Whiterose23 said:

My concern was if my daughter decides to go to university but I’m sure he would help out in some way if that was the case.

Child maintenance stops when a young person leaves full time non advanced education, which would be the same time as child benefit/tax credits etc. Usually a person in Uni would have a student loan to help and work along side that as extra income.

True and this would be the case but we would both commit to helping out even so.

ZaSa1418

Whiterose23 said:

poppy12345 said:

Whiterose23 said:

My concern was if my daughter decides to go to university but I’m sure he would help out in some way if that was the case.

Child maintenance stops when a young person leaves full time non advanced education, which would be the same time as child benefit/tax credits etc. Usually a person in Uni would have a student loan to help and work along side that as extra income.

True and this would be the case but we would both commit to helping out even so.

By then i imagine he would start paying your daughter whatever he plans to give her to help out. 

BAFE

I would take the lump sum as this will protect you against your ex being unemployed for any reason in the future.  You can always put it in a savings account and draw out the same amount as you are receiving monthly now, every month.