[Solved] Appliying for CSA due to unreasonable demands

Hi There,

There is nothing stopping you infact I would recomend it, or at least ask them to give a evaluation of what you should pay even if you don't want to pay through them.

You can then give the details to your ex to show you are paying over the odds already and if she forces the CSA payment option then she would lose out.

If you go through CSA you would also be able to claim some allowence for travel.

GTTS

I agree - in fact there's a very good reason for going to them yourself - if she applies without you knowing, the CSA will calculate from the day they open the case, but it may take them a while to contact you. In the meantime, arrears are building up and you are paying to your ex, but they may well not take that into account, so you end up with a large bill and having paid twice. If you go to the CSA, you stop paying your ex on the day you have your case opened, and either pay the CSA, or put it into a savings account until they ask you for the money.

Hi Geordie

Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. When there is a family-based arrangement already in place, this is where you and your children’s mother can agree who will provide what for your children. There are no strict rules or formulas that you need to stick to when calculating your payments. It can include money and other kinds of support, for example providing clothing or paying school trips. Family-based arrangements are not legally binding, however, they are quick, easy and flexible to change as your children grow.

Both you and your children’s mother may wish to discuss any issues surrounding your arrangement to keep it on track. This can be done alone or with the help of friends, family, the Options’ Discussion Guide or with the help of a professional mediator. Remember to review your arrangement if either you or your children’s mother circumstances change. Collaborating to keep and maintain a family-based arrangement is better for your children.

To help you with your family-based arrangement, we have useful tools and guides you may find helpful. There is our family-based arrangement for which is not legally enforceable but can put your arrangement on a more formal basis. We also have a child maintenance decisions guide: Talking about money. It can help you and your children’s mother find a suitable arrangement between yourselves. They are available to download from our website at www.cmoptions.org.

You have mentioned that you have used our online calculator and may wish to use this figure as a starting point in renegotiating your family-based arrangement. You may also wish to negotiate if the amount of fuel you use would be affected on your maintenance payments.

If you find you cannot renegotiate your family-based arrangement, you still have the option of using the statutory service, through the Child Maintenance Service. They have two schemes Direct Pay and Collect and Pay.

Direct Pay is where they will calculate maintenance and then leave you and your children’s mother to decide together how your payments will be made. The CSA will not contact you again unless either of you report a change in circumstances or if they are told that you have missed or fallen behind with your payments.

Collect and Pay is where they will calculate, collect and enforce payments on your behalf, as some parents prefer the security and help of a third party managing their child maintenance.

The Government plans to introduce costs for using the services of the Child Maintenance Service at some point in the future. There will be three types of costs:

Application fee
Fees for collecting and paying out child maintenance payments
Enforcement charges for paying parents who do not pay.

We do not know the exact amount of these costs yet or when they might be introduced as they still need to be approved by Parliament but the Child Maintenance Service will write to everyone with a case to confirm the exact amounts at least a month before they come in.

You are avoiding costs by making your own family-based arrangement with your children’s mother. If you try it and it does not work out, you can still apply to the Child Maintenance Service at any stage.

If an application is made with the Child Maintenance Service, your responsibility to pay will start from around the time that the Child Maintenance Service contacts him. If you would like more information about the Child Maintenance Service and if your fuel costs will be taken into consideration, you can find this on their website at http://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance.

We have a sorting out separation web-app that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.
To find out more about how Child Maintenance Options can help you visit http://www.cmoptions.org or call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on Saturday.

I hope this helps.

William