Recently had my daughter move in permanently, how to proceed?

dbqwerty

On Wednesday 19th March, my ex wife sent our 12 year old daughter to live with me.

I am single, work full time, am a private tennant and currently pay child maintenance to my ex wife.

How would I proceed with claiming any benefits that I may be entitled to? 

DE_612183

There is a government calculator:

https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

But I guess the main things are:

1. Stop paying child maintenance
2. Get child benefits paid to you

Other things will probably depend on your income - does your ex work? If so she should not start paying Child Maintenance to you...

MattMattMattUK

dbqwerty said:

On Wednesday 19th March, my ex wife sent our 12 year old daughter to live with me.

I am single, work full time, am a private tennant and currently pay child maintenance to my ex wife.

On what basis do you pay maintenance, through CMS, via a court order, or agreed between the two of you? Will your daughter stay with you every night, will she spend any nights staying with her mother?

dbqwerty said:

How would I proceed with claiming any benefits that I may be entitled to? 

You can make a claim for Child Benefit, that might be complicated if your ex-wife is already claiming and refuses to relinquish the claim, but submit the claim now. 
https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit/how-to-claim

You can put your circumstances through this calculator and it will tell you what if any benefits you can claim and what you can expect to get. 
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/

dbqwerty

Thank you both. I currently pay maintenance via a DEO. My ex wife has no immediate plans to have our daughter stay overnight.

sammyjammy

Then you need to notify CMS, you should also register your daughter as living at your address with the school.  You won't be able to claim child benefit until she relinquishes it.

Is she your only child or are there others still living with the mother?

dbqwerty

Yes, she is my only child. There is another child still living with my ex wife.

TELLIT01

Getting the Child Benefit switched to the OP could be a long, drawn out process if the ex-partner doesn't give it up voluntarily.  The CB office never seemed to be a rush to intervene when I worked at DWP.

MattMattMattUK

dbqwerty said:

Thank you both. I currently pay maintenance via a DEO.

Was your divorce particularly acrimonious? A DEO arrangement is usually rare any has to be court ordered, which means depending on exactly how it was implemented you need to go to CMS or court to get it amended. 

dbqwerty said:

My ex wife has no immediate plans to have our daughter stay overnight.

On that basis you should not have to pay maintenance once the process is complete, but you will be forced to keep paying (via the DEO) until your employer receives proper notification that they can stop paying. 

dbqwerty said:

Yes, she is my only child. There is another child still living with my ex wife.

You should also put in a claim for your ex-wife to pay you maintenance now you have your daughter living with you full time.