Child maintenance

fr2214

Why is it that the csa do not take into consideration debts that the paying parent has to pay when assessing the amount to be paid.
Due to the amount my ex partner has been awarded l am unable to pay my bills, has anyone experienced this, thanks

Exodi

fr2214 said:

Why is it that the csa do not take into consideration debts that the paying parent has to pay when assessing the amount to be paid.
Due to the amount my ex partner has been awarded l am unable to pay my bills, has anyone experienced this, thanks

Presumably to prevent a loophole occurring whereby I take could out loans up to my eyeballs and then claim my net income is not sufficient to make child maintenance payments. If I really wanted I could then pop the loan money in a savings account (as savings are generally not considered, except where they produce income)

Even if the debt wasn't deliberate, you can surely appreciate it might not seem fair that I could max out a credit card treating myself to a brand new top of the range motorbike, then claim a reduction in child maintenance. Of course I'm not suggesting this is what you've done.

I think they deliberately try to focus on gross income for this reason (to prevent methods to deliberately reduce net pay). They'd prefer not to get into the nitty gritty at all.

Penguin_

fr2214 said:

Why is it that the csa do not take into consideration debts that the paying parent has to pay when assessing the amount to be paid.
Due to the amount my ex partner has been awarded l am unable to pay my bills, has anyone experienced this, thanks

Because you can just get yourself into debt then pay less or no child maintenance.

tacpot12

Also, your debtors should take the child maintenance that you are paying in working out repayment plans, as child maintenance (rightly) is seen as a priority obligation. 

fr2214

The debts were due to illness l was unable to work for 10 months, the loans etc were taken out so l could actually pay my bills, it wasn’t to get out of paying, l have done so for five years