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Hello there,
I was wondering if any one had any advice or previous experience with child maintenance.
I have two children by two separate mothers.
My first child has a disability and lives with his mother, between myself and my family we have him over night at least two nights a week. I have a private payment set up with his mother and no issues. I also contribute to uniform/ parties in addition.
My second child also lives with her mother. We have had a private agreement in place for 4 years. I have her overnight once a week, recently her mother requested I have my daughter overnight for full weekends every weekend, I politely told her this was not possible as I go to college two nights a week and work Saturdays, her response was that she was reporting me to the CSA.
Today I have received the letter informing me that they have calculated I should pay circa £4300 per year for child 2.
I’ve used the child maintenance calulator and it states I should pay £92 a week - is this amount split between both of the mothers or per mothers?
I’m at a loss as I can’t afford to pay both mothers £92 a week.
We take the children on holiday every year. If these calculations are correct that would have to stop that and I would no longer be able to fund college.
Can anyone give me any advice, I’m at a loss.
P.s if the £92 pound is split between byou th mothers, mother 2 would gain £1 a week!
Thank you for reading and any advice!
Thanks for your advice. I didn’t want to rock the boat with mother one as all is good and she gets on with my wife, but if needs must. Thank you looking at my query again. This forum was recommend to me and I must say it’s great.
Hello stuem18
If the Child Maintenance Service are made aware of a separate family-based arrangement, they will take it into account when calculating maintenance. Them not being aware of your other arrangement could be the reason why your calculations do not match with the online calculator.
If you contact them and make them aware of your family-based arrangement which you have in place with your son’s mother, they may be able to amend the calculation for you. If that is not satisfactory, you could, as mentioned previously, set up an arrangement with them for your son in which case they would calculate maintenance for both your children.
If you would like any further information and a for a more personalised service, you can contact Child Maintenance Options directly, http://www.cmoptions.org
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, ‘Sorting out separation’. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/
Regards
William
Thanks for your help. Spoke to Cm today, they didn’t give a lot away but I don’t think they were aware that I had a son I also pay maintenance on via the private agreement. I’ve given them all of the information and I believe they are going to contact my sons mother to confirm what I provided. Thanks for your advice.
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