Hi All
I am getting a divorce and possibly selling the house. we are going for a family based agreement on the CSA money but after a year that agreement can be changed and she could go to the CSA. I could possibly end up with £80,000 ( she would be getting a lot more)by selling the house.
My question is would the Csa calculate that I have to pay more due to my savings or is it only based solely on my income ??
Hi There,
I have moved this post to the child maintenance board so our team will respond.
It's my understanding that you payments go on your earnings, it is best though if in any doubt to talk to the CSA/CMS and ask them they are normally helpful.
GTTS
New claims\cases will be handled by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS)
They use your Gross Income as determined by information in your most recent HMRC P60 declaration.
Technically the only information regarding your savings usually be included in your P60 is any interest earned on the savings.
Therefore they will not use (or even ask you for) any information regarding your savings.
Hello GAZ123
If and application were made via the Child Maintenance Service which is the new Government’s statutory scheme, they work out child maintenance using the paying parent's gross income, which is income before Income Tax and National Insurance are taken off, but after occupational or personal pension scheme contributions are taken away. In most cases this gross income figure comes from information given to HM Revenue & Customs by the paying parent, their employer or a third-party such as an accountant.
I have included a link for further information 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.
There are various ways that child maintenance can be arranged. Child maintenance can be arranged via a family-based arrangement, which is not legally enforceable. The Government’s statutory scheme, the Child Maintenance Service or via a Consent Order/Minute of Agreement.
For more information on 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
Thank you for your reply. The Ex is now thinking about staying in the house with the kids as it is a lot cheaper than renting. We have looked at costs of me moving out and renting and it would leave me with no money left over at the end of the month. She has agreed that if I moved out and that she stayed in the house that as it would be a lot cheaper that I would not have pay her any Child Mantaince.
I have been told that a family based agreement like that would be no good as she could change her mind and go to the CSA after a year and claim it. Would a Consent Order be legally binding and stop her from changing her mind ?
CMS (Child Maintenance Service) which is the new scheme that she would have to use.
CMS takes into account just YOUR income.
So
Savings are not considered, but any interest accrued from savings could be classed as income.
The income of whomever you end up living with in future will not be considered either.
Hello GAZ123
Just to make you aware that a family-based arrangement is not legally binding and can be changed or cancelled at any point. As the agreement is made solely between both parents some amount of trust is involved when negotiating and carrying out the arrangement.
Family-based arrangements can work extremely well for some families as they are very flexible and can be easily changed. If you, or your ex-partner did have a change in circumstances your agreement could be easily adapted to incorporate these changes without any disruption to your regular payments.
In regards to a Consent Order, they are legally binding and are not legally subject to change unless they have been in place for at least 12 months. After this time, either parent can apply to the Child Maintenance Service and the Consent Order will no longer be valid.
If an application was made to the Child Maintenance Service your responsibility to pay would only start from the time that they contacted you.
Regards
William