Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Morning All ,
For the past 14 months i have had my two daughters every weekend. Last month I was told Im only having them once every fortnight
and a few days later I got a CSA letter requesting maintenance.
Having spoken to CSA outlining this they inform me the maintenance payments will only be investigated from the date of the lodged request from my gready Ex. (eliminating the fact that i have had them 2-3 nights a week).
Also if I say I have them 2-3 nights , they refer back to the Ex and if she disagrees this defaults to 1 day !! -
Anyone know how or why the women gets the casting vote on this ? Why historic vists are not considered and why her salary is not part of the equation (only mine)
Frustrated... (ties in nicely to the unqualified Non Mole applied so i cannot visit the house or talk to her about it). Do fathers have any rights !
Hi There,
This is one of the unfairest (if that's even a word) rules of the csa/cms, and as you say it's very difficult to get over turned, especially in your case where you ex has changed the arrangements before asking them to assess.
As it now stands you only have them for around 52 nights a year which doesn't give the same deduction in payment that you would have had before, I don't think you will be able to change this as your ex has stopped the extra nights (as you say being greedy) the only way will be if she increases the nights again and then you would need to document the dates and it would also help to have some date stamped photo's taken when they are there too as proof.
I had similar when my overnight contact first started, I had counted up the nights and it was over 52 so asked for the reduction to be made, they went to my ex and she gave them a list of dates that he should have been with me when he wasn't going to be for different reasons (this meant I was actually informed by CSA about the lost dates) so they couldn't reduce the amount.
CSA come across as the bad guys through all of this, but they have to work to a set of rules put in place to protect the RP, the child and also the NRP they don't always get it right as the rules make everything either black or white with no grey area being looked at.
It isn't un common for NRP to lie to reduce down the amount they pay, so they ask the RP to clarify the number of nights the child stays with them, the thing they don't take into account, though they know it happens, is that the RP will manipulate the contact to maximise the money they get paid.
I think they need to come up with a better way to resolve the issues, as it's too common that contact gets lost to increase payments.
GTTS
Hi Sheppy
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. We are unable to comment on Child Support Agency (CSA) and Child Maintenance Service cases as we are a separate organisation and do not have access to your case information.
You mentioned that your ex-partner recently made a application for statutory child maintenance. If this is correct, your child maintenance is being managed by the Child Maintenance Service rather than the CSA. With this in mind, you may wish to contact them directly to discuss your concerns. You can find the relevant contact details on any letters or information packs that you may have received from the Child Maintenance Service.
If you would like more information about your contact rights, including how to put a legal agreement in place, you may wish to seek legal advice. If you do not have access to a solicitor and if you may be eligible for legal aid, you can contact Civil Legal Advice. This organisation can provide confidential advice and information to those eligible for legal aid in England and Wales. You can find their contact details on the following site: https://www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice. You may also wish to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau as they can provide information on legal topics ( http://www.adviceguide.org.uk).
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
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.