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Hi all, would appreciate it if someone could help me out with a dilemma I'm having. I got divorced in 2010 and the court imposed a £200 a month maintenance order on me which was fine because it was because I was still paying for the marital home. Due to the economic downturn I was still resident at the marital home until 2013 (May) when enough became enough and I moved out.
Once I did this my ex who had managed to open a csa case in 2008 re approached the csa for a re-assessment of income. I explained that there was a court order in place specifying a set amount but they initially ignored this, then u turned, then u turned again and applied a 20% rate to my income which put my payments up by over a £100 a month. 1st question is can this be legal considering my ex signed the divorce papers to agree to be bound by any orders included in it.
In addition to that, I have now found a new life with someone else but my new partner is registered disabled, and gets the full deal, ESA, child tax credit for her daughter, and her disability benefit, she needs every penny of that money to help support herself and her daughter.
I want to make this partnership more perminant but can't figure out what the csa will do with regards to my partners benefit entitlement if anything. I know that if I decide to marry again I will receive a variation for another child, and my new wife's ESA will drop because it's income related, and potentially this could put us on the bread line.
Great full for any advice
If the claim was opened in 2008 they won't take into account your new partners benefit, you are right you can apply for a variation for having a disabled child in your house.
I'm not sure about the CSA and a court order, in theory your paying twice then?
Hi Bobbak
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. We are unable to comment on your Child Support Agency (CSA) case as we are a separate organisation and do not have access to your case information. However, I can provide some general information that may help answer your query.
In general, any Consent Orders that were endorsed after March 2003 are not legally subject to change unless they have been in place for at least 12 months. After 12 months, either parent can apply to the statutory child maintenance service and the Consent Order will no longer be valid. If you have a Minute of Agreement in place, you may wish to seek legal advice.
The CSA work out child maintenance using the paying parent’s net weekly income. As Huxley has mentioned, they also take other factors into account other factors such as the number of other children living with the paying parent. However, under the 2003 scheme, the CSA do not take into account the paying parent’s partner or spouse’s income. You can find more information on how the CSA work out child maintenance on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-support-agency-works-out-child-maintenance. You may also wish to contact the CSA directly to discuss your query. You can find their contact details on any letters they have sent you, or via Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/child-support-agency.
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
I think they do take the child tax credit your new partner receives into account, but everything else is not factored in.
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