[Solved] Preparing to Pay / Birth Cert Issues

If your not on the birth certificate it would go to DNA which you would end up paying the costs for of you turn out to be the dad

The money would be backdated from when she first claims with the CSA, not the child's birth date

I wouldn't do any voluntary payments unless she signs to say they are classed as child maintenance, I've seen too many times where the CSA don't take into account any payments made not via them

Hi Huxley

Thanks that's very helpful.

stu

I agree about not making voluntary payments, but I would recommend putting the CSA calculated amount into a savings account from the birth date - she may apply straight away, and the CSA can take their time so you could find yourself in arrears, but it will be no more than you have saved, and could be less.

Hi Stuart

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

You may wish to know that the Child Support Agency (CSA) are no longer accepting new child maintenance applications. These are now being managed by the Child Maintenance Service.

As a father you can make sure you are named on your child's birth certificate if you go with the mother to register the baby's birth. If she will not agree to this, then what happens next depends on whether you are married and where you live.

In England and Wales, if parents are married when their baby is born, both parents automatically have parental responsibility. This is the legal name for the duties a parent has to their child and means you are legally responsible for them. In Scotland, you only need to have been married when the baby was conceived. If you are not married, you will need to apply to the courts for a Parental Responsibility order. You can find more information on parental responsibility on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities.

Parent can still make an application to the Child Maintenance Service even if the paying parent is not listed on the child’s birth certificate. If an application is made, the paying parent’s responsibility to pay will be from around the point when they are contacted by the Child Maintenance Service. You can find more information on using the Child Maintenance Service on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance.

You may wish to know that the Child Maintenance Service is only one way of putting an agreement in place. So that you are aware of your options before making a decision about child maintenance, you may wish to view the following information.

Many parents choose to sort out child maintenance between themselves as it is often the quickest and most amicable way of agreeing child maintenance. We call this a family-based arrangement and there are no strict rules to stick to. A family-based arrangement does not need to be all about money although many parents do include regular contributions. Your arrangement can include other kinds of support, such as you directly paying for things that your child may need. Family-based arrangements are not legally-binding, however, many parents prefer them because of their flexibility and ease of which they can be reviewed (such as if you or the other parent’s circumstances change). They are also free to set up and maintain. 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 ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/toolbox/index.asp) that may help you set up a family-based arrangement with your child’s other parent. These include our child maintenance decisions guides and our family-based arrangement form, which is not a legally-binding document, but if used to write down what both of you have agreed, it can help make your arrangement feel more formal. We also have a discuss guide which you can use to plan your conversations around child maintenance.

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/. Some parents use the figure provided as a starting point to negotiate a family-based arrangement.

If you feel that a family-based arrangement will not work and when your child’s mother starts receiving Child Benefit for your child, you can make an application to the Child Maintenance Service. They use two schemes: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay.

Direct Pay is where the Child Maintenance Service will provide both you and the other parent with a child maintenance calculation and then allow both of you to decide the payment method. After this, the Child Maintenance Service will make no further contact unless they are informed that payments have stopped or if there is a change in either of your circumstances.

Alternatively, under the Collect and Pay scheme, the Child Maintenance Service will calculate and collect payments from you and then forward them on to the other parent.

The Government plans to introduce charges for using the Child Maintenance Service in spring 2014. There will be three types of charges:

An application fee
Fees for collecting and paying out child maintenance.
Enforcement charges for paying parents who do not pay.

The exact amount for these charges are still to be approved by Parliament, however, the Child Maintenance Service will write to you at least a month before they are introduced.

The best way to avoid charges is to set up a family-based arrangement and not use the Child Maintenance Service at all. However, if you and the other parent cannot agree an arrangement between yourselves, there will be no collection fees for parents who pay and receive child maintenance using Direct Pay, only application fees.

For parents using the Collect and Pay scheme, the government plans to charge collection fees to both the paying and receiving parent, this is for collecting and passing on child maintenance payments. Under the proposals, the paying parent would have to pay 20% in addition to the weekly maintenance payment and the receiving parent would have 4% taken away from the weekly maintenance payment.

If you decide to make an application to the Child Maintenance Service, you will need to contact us first either by telephone or email, for your unique reference number. This number is personal to you. It is unique and shows that you have spoken to Child Maintenance Options before applying for a statutory child maintenance arrangement.

You can also use the courts to set child maintenance (a Consent Order or Minute of Agreement, if you live in Scotland). To arrange a Consent Order or a Minute of Agreement, both you and the other parent will need to agree how much child maintenance will be paid and how often before going to court. This type of agreement is usually set up when both parents are going to court for other reasons, such as arranging a divorce or dividing assets. Arranging a Consent Order can be costly as fees for solicitors, mediators and court costs may apply.

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