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Hi
Can anyone give me any advice? I've had an agreement with my ex all above board and signed by both of us and I've been paying her regularly each month. The agreement states that it will be reviewed once a year and increase/decrease with inflation. I had a text from my ex a couple of weeks ago saying that it was review time, I merely said that inflation is at 0%, therefore no change to the monthly amount.
Yesterday in the post I had a letter from the CMS, advising me they we're getting involved, to seek payments. My understanding of the CMS was that there preference was to get the parents to sort it out without them needing to be involved, so I dont understand why they have agreed to become involved if we already had an agreement in place between ourselves?
My next question is I've been paying every month, will the CMS take these payments into account or will I end up paying twice? Do they go back to the start of the year or financial year to calculate my payments I've already made.
Thanks in advance for any advice
Hi there
The CMS can only ask for payments from the point that the case was opened and they contact you. Please make sure that you pay future payments by standing order or bank transfer referencing that the payment is child maintenance, with the name of the child and the date the payment covers. This is just your proof that you have been paying, if your ex tries to say otherwise.
You can continue to pay, or you can put the money aside until the CMS have made their calculations and given you an amount to pay, this can take weeks. If you do neither of these things you may find yourself in arrears once you are asked to start paying.
The CMS calculate the amount by a percentage of gross income, it is not inflation based. Here's a link to the CMS calculator
www.gov.uk/calculate-your-child-maintenance
Hello Metalmick
Either parent can make an application to the Child Maintenance Service at any point. If you have any queries regarding your case, you would need to speak to them directly to discuss your concerns. You will find their details on any letters they have sent you or on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance.
The paying parent’s responsibility to pay would start from around the point the Child Maintenance Service contact the paying parent. I have included a link on how the Child Maintenance Service calculates child maintenance that you may find useful, https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance.
For more information on all the different ways to set up child maintenance and for a more personalised service, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options website at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The DWP 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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