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I have just divorced and we have joint custody of the three children
My question is this
When the CSA assess payments they work on the basis of time spent with each parent (as one of the inputs).
How do they confirm this?
I am interested to know how I should be recording the nights that the children are with me over the coming year and how I stop my ex from disputing it/ lying about time they spend with her.
Fully expect her to do this at he end of the year, so appreciate your help
Thanks
Hi
Yes, the CSA reduce the payment by 1/7th if they stay with you for 53-104 nights, 2/7ths for 105- 156 nights and 3/7ths for over 156 nights (if it's more than 183 nights, you should be looking at residency) - keep accurate records of all visits, and take photos (with time/date stamp) - if she disputes the number of nights, the CSA will assume one night a week only, so a 1/7th reduction.
I currently am going through the CSA.
Everything actd is correct, you should take photographic evidence at all times, sad but true, I have a vindictive ex who has lied about everything to the CSA. Any contact/overnight stays I had at the beginning after our break-up she is denying happened, I kept all receipts of activities I undertook with my children. Unfortunately I never taken photographs on all visits from my children, it is my word against hers and they sided with her statements.
I have no issue with maintenance payments, just hate that lies have won the day over fact.
Hi Sshirley
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I will try and provide some information that you may find useful.
You may wish to know that the Child Support Agency (CSA) are no longer accepting new child maintenance applications. These are now being managed by the Child Maintenance Service.
Do you have a case in place with the CSA? If you do, you may wish to contact them directly to discuss your query. This is because we do not have access to the information that they may hold about you or your case. You can find the CSA’s contact details on any letters they have sent you, or via Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/child-support-agency.
The Child Maintenance Service takes shared care into account in different ways depending on the paying parent’s child maintenance rate. Shared care applies if the paying parent provides overnight care for at least 52 nights per year before a liability will be reduced. This is based on the agreement with the receiving parent and or evidence. Shared care is usually determined over a twelve month basis, but shorter periods can be considered in appropriate cases.
The paying parent’s weekly amount of child maintenance is divided between the number of children that qualify for child maintenance.
Shared care is then taken into account, based on the number of nights of shared care for each child. The amount of child maintenance to be paid is then reduced by up to 50 per cent plus a further £7 reduction, depending on the number of nights, as long as this is for more than 175 days or more a year.
The reductions for Basic and Basic plus rates are:
1 night per week = amount reduced by 1/7
2 nights per week = amount reduced by 2/7
3 nights per week = amount reduced by 3/7
175 nights or more = amount reduced by half and then minus a further £7.00 per child.
You can find more information on how the Child Maintenance Service work out child maintenance on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance. Alternatively, you may wish to contact the Child Maintenance Service directly for further clarification on what they will accept as evidence of overnight stays.
For more information on the ways to set up child maintenance, please visit our website at http://www.cmoptions.org. Alternatively, you can call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on a Saturday. 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.
Regards
William
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