A little advice please

kaneaj1

Hi,

My brother has 2 children; my neice is 18 and off to university this year and my nephew is 16 and still at school.

His marriage broke down when the kids were very young (she left) but they have remained on good terms and he has paid maintainence every month since that time (approx 14 years), as well as buying other stuff on top whenever needed.

The problem is that his ex wife has lost her job and needs to claim benefit and has been informed that she will have to involve the CSA. Obviously my brother is worried sick about this as he has no idea what sort of money they would require from him, whether they would try and go for 'arrears' etc.

I'm about as much use as a chocolate fire poker on this as I don't have any personal experience of the process, lol. Any advice would be fab, particularly from those on the board who work for the CSA.

Thanx, Kerry :beer:

Voyager2002

I suggest that he contact the CSA himself, without giving his name, and quotes figures for salary and so forth and asks what they would expect him to pay. They use a very rigid formula and so could put the numbers into their spreadsheet and tell him (although the chances of them making a mistake a fairly high).

kaneaj1

Hi Voyager,

I have already suggested that but the problem is he has a tendency to stick his head in the sand, hence the posting :rolleyes:

Thanx, Kerry

NB I should add that his ex is as horrified as he is as they are very good friends, get on better now than they did when they were married lol.

pinkpig08

Hi, As the older one is off to university your brother won't need to pay maintenance for him. When the children have finished full time education then maintenance for them is stopped in the September following the June'July that they leave.

Does he have any more children living with him? The first 15% for 1 child, 20% for two and 25% for three will be disregarded when calculating his net income. For example if his net income is £250 and he has two child living with him, they will only use £200 to calculate the maintenance.

If he is paying maintenance for one child he will pay 15% of his net income in maintenance, 20% for two children and 25% for three or more. So, using the example above, he would pay 20% of £200 for two children, ie - £40 per week. If he has them to stay over, then the £40 is reduced by 1/7th for every night they stay over per week.

I hope I've explained it OK, hopefully kelloggs will be able to correct any mistakes!

kelloggs36

That is right pinkpig and rest assured that unless a claim has already been put into the CSA, there will be no arrears - it can't be backdated.

Elle00

He'd be expected to pay 15% for one child from the date the CSA first make contact with him. He won't be expected to pay any arrears prior to the CSA making contact with him and he won't be expected to pay anything for the elder child at university. If the application goes through before the elder child has left for uni though, he'll pay 20% of his income while she is still at home and in full-time education.

If his ex is applying for income support - they'll handle the CSA application meaning your Brother probably won't have to start paying for a month or two minimum. It took them nine months to start billing my ex.

kaneaj1

Thanks for your reply's, sorry it's took so long to post! I reassured my brother that it wouldn't be as dire as he previously thought and have pointed him towards the site so he can learn a few things about life & moneysaving generally lol!

With regard to his ex, there is a strong chance of a job with another company she has worked for in the past, so it looks as though things will remain as they are. (all would have lost out big time if through the csa).

Thanks again, Kerry :beer:

kaneaj1

Kelloggs, I did try & thank you but don't think it worked, lol. So thank you too!

Kerry

jacqui40

things could stay the same if they opted for "direct pay"where a calulation would be done but is used as a guideline,some nrps pay over the calculation on rare occasions!!yours brothers ex would have to declare to benefit office otherwise it is fraud and they would adjust her benefits in line with what your brother was paying.