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Hello
I am enquiring on behalf of my fiancé as he is away at the moment and we are due to have a baby and get married so anything that effects him effects me.
The issue is me and my partner has been together 2 years, since we got together his ex has done anything she can to hurt him which has ranged from sending me abusive messages to split us up, to stopping him from seeing his kids (please note they split around 6 months before I came on the scene so should be no reasons for bitterness). When they split up they agreed on a payment of £250 per month to pay towards his two children but he would also buy them anything they needed (clothes, shoes, new beds, ballet lessons), however she still wanted to be awkward and on and off stopped him seeing them. She finally met someone else and all of a sudden was ok with me meeting them and him having them for a day or weekend, however this lovely arrangement stopped when the kids came back from their weekend with us and enjoyed it so much she obviously got very jealous about it, even though I didn't over fuss them as I didn't want to do that and also they were there to be with their dad so I watched and enjoyed seeing them all so happy. After months of her not letting him see them he then told her he would go to court over the kids and she all of a sudden started to let him see them (weird fear over court...)and also she fell pregnant herself so this may have helped, however due to these visits stopping and starting we are still going to court as kids need stability with their dad and he doesn't want to keep fighting to spend time with them whenever she decides he is somehow in the wrong....
Now the new issue is I have fallen pregnant, we kept this news away from her until 20 weeks and then she found out and even though she has a new partner, a new baby on the way and it has been a two year split she has decided to go to CSA as she knows she will get more money from my partner (he does earn a nice wage and she is on benefits) so this is all going through and as much as it annoyed us at the start we have worked out we can still live ok with paying her the new amount and as long as his kids are supported we are happy. The PROBLEM I have is she has found out that if he doesn't pay her directly into her account and has to go through CSA he will have to pay an extra 20% collection and she has to pay a measly 4%, now she knows he will pay her every month as he always has and she knows that he will not want to pay an extra 20% when it can be sent via their accounts however when he has asked her this she just says she will think about it. Now this think about it is just to be spiteful! there is no reason for her to go through CSA for payments however CSA are giving her this option!!! She is very bitter about me and my partner and our new baby and so we are 90% sure she is going to go down this option just to be spiteful! And this angers me!! I don't see how CSA can give her this option!? and make my partner pay 20% extra when SHE is the one who is not being cooperative?!!!?!?!?
Now is there any way we can fight this as I cannot justify loosing 20% (another £64 per month) just because she decides it would make her feel better that she is screwing him over in other ways as cant get to us via more money!!
Please Please Please can someone help me here as we are not arguing about paying her more per month, if the kids benefit from that then that's great, the issue is the fact they are letting her decide how its paid without even looking at who is making the situation difficult!!
I cant justify paying an extra 64 quid to CSA when we need this with a new born and me on maternity leave!
The thing is if the CSA made her try this route first and he missed one payment then I would let them go down this route as it was his fault the payment was missed so he would have to pay the extra 20% but I know this wouldn't happen, every pay day he would do a direct payment!!
Advise would be very much appreciated!
Thank You
Hi Beron and welcome
Don't worry - the basic idea principle is that the charges are only levied if your fiance doesn't keep up with payments and the CSA (Now CMS) become involved with collecting the payment. The CMS will calculate the amount and then your fiance pays directly to his ex (called Direct Pay) and that doesn't incur any charges as long as he doesn't miss any payments.
Also, since she has now gone to the CSA, the amount he pays covers everything - so he is not obliged to pay anything at all beyond the CSA payments, so no ballet lessons, clothes etc unless he wants to pay them voluntarily.
One more thing - when you have your baby, that will also reduce his payments slightly, so worth checking on the calculation for that.
As I said - there is absolutely nothing to worry about 🙂
Hi Beron
Yes as actd said the charges have not come into force yet (legislation hasn't been passed for those- due around Summer 2014) and even when they do, they will not be automatically added
The PWC cannot veto which method you pay by
The NRP will have the choice to pay by direct pay with no charges, only if they default a payment will they be moved over to collect and pay with charges
Your payments should be approximately as the calculator
Hello Both of you and thank for your reply.
This is right, they have advised my partner that these charges will come into play in June, at the moment he has been advised by the CSA that he is to pay them and come June when these new changes come in they will ask HER how she wants it to be paid instead of automatically transferring this over to him sending it to her direct.
My fiancé asked her if she is ok for him to pay her directly the agreed rate from CSA, this is when she said she will think about it and will let him know in June....? So personally I think this is unfair this has been left as her decision as I feel if he had missed a payment or been uncooperative with paying the new amount (which he is overpaying at the moment as she has said he didn't pay Dec and Jan and he did as per his statements which he offered to send over and they said no she needs to advise us?!?!) then he should have to pay the 20% for them to get involved but he hasn't and wont....
I hope what you have advised is right, if she decides to be awkward and choose to go through CSA with these new rates can we dispute this and if so who with?
That is wrong what they have told you, don't believe everything the CSA tell you, half the staff there haven't got a clue of the rules and legislations, I've spent the last 7 months being told wrong stuff, if I didn't know the rules myself I would be paying double what I pay now
You will probably find you will speak to someone else at the CSA/CMS and they will tell you correctly charges are not the decision of the PWC.
As it stands if she applied now it would go on the collect and pay method (you pay CSA/CMS they pay her) only because charges haven't been brought into effect yet. When charges are brought in, in the summer if you haven't defaulted any payments you will be given the option to go onto direct pay. (You pay into her bank account direct) if you make a late payment you will be put on the collect and pay with charges!!!
So be very careful do not make any late payments once your on it!!
Copied from parliament draft legislations for you
You can quote this to the CSA if they say charges apply to you!!
Once the charging starts, neither parent will be able to block the use of direct pay. The parent with care will not be able to veto direct pay if we are convinced this person is likely to pay. Because of the 20%, it would be wrong for one parent to be able to impose a 20% on someone else who is actually shown as saying that they are willing to pay direct and has convinced the Department that they are willing to do so. The parent with care cannot veto that, but, if they think the decision is wrongly made, they can challenge it, ask for it to be reviewed, go through a complaints process or go to a case examiner. It would not be right for one party to be able to force an extra 20% on the other person who was willing to comply, but was not given the chance to do so.
Personally, I would be inclined to get the date from the CSA and then set your standing order to pay a week early just to make absolutely sure.
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