[Solved] Maintenance

Hi there

As long as you reference the payment as child maintenance and include your daughters name...ie ~ Child maintenance for (child's name) for the period (date). This is your proof that you are making the payments.

Thank you for your help Nannyjane,I really appreciate it 🙂

Make sure the account is in your ex's name - if it's your daughters, the CSA will probably still not accept it, even with the reference.

Hi MB76

Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I will provide some information that may help answer your query.

If you wanted to use the statutory rules for your arrangement, then child maintenance is paid by the paying parent to the parent with the main care of the child or children. Therefore, if you decide to follow these rules, your standing order would be paid to your daughter’s mother. In addition, using a Standing Order will make sure payments are made on time and are recorded. You can find more information on the payments methods for child maintenance on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/maintenance/ways-to-pay.asp.

From what you have written, it appears that you may have a family-based arrangement in place for child maintenance. With this type of agreement, there are no strict rules to stick to as there is no involvement from the courts or the statutory child maintenance services. Therefore, both you and your daughter’s mother have the freedom to decide the terms of your own arrangement, such as the method that child maintenance will be paid.

A family-based arrangement can include money and other kinds of support, such as you directly paying for things that your daughter may need. Although family-based arrangements are not legally-binding, many parents prefer them because of their flexibility and how easy the arrangement can be reviewed, such as if you or your daughter’s mother’s circumstances change. You can find more information on family-based arrangements on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/family/index.asp.

We have a range of tools and guides on our website that you may find useful ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/toolbox/index.asp). These tools include our discussion guide which you can use to help you plan your conversations around child maintenance. We also have a family-based arrangement form that is not a legally-binding document but if used to write down what both of you have agreed, it can help to formalise your arrangement.

To give you an indication of how much child maintenance that may be calculated if you were to use the Child Maintenance Service, we have an online calculator on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator/. You and your daughter’s mother can use this tool to help you work out a figure for your family-based arrangement.

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