[Solved] What are my rights - ADVICE NEEDED!

Hi There,

I will answer your questions as best I can within your post below.

Hi all,

I am new to this site, and really in need of some advice in regards to my situation.

I am paying maintenance for my son, who is 10 in July (and have done since we split up when he was 2). The mother has since remarried, had another daughter and is now separating from her new Husband. She has two houses (one she lives in with both children, and another she rents out to her Husband). I am not certain what agreement she has reached with her Husband for maintenance of the 2nd child...

My questions are:

1. I do not go through the CSA - do I need to have something in writing between me and my ex in this instance?

A written agreement would be good, along with proof of payment, if paid in cash a signed reciept or if payed through bank transfer reference this as CSA

2. Does the fact that she has assets affect how much I should pay?

Unfortunately not, it doesn't matter how much money/assets she has you are paying for your childs up bringing

3. What is the situation now that she is receiving further maintenance for the 2nd child? Does this affect my payments?

This won't effect what you pay either, the payment she recieves from the other childs father is the same as yours for his childs up bringing so as far as i know won't change what you pay

4. I have recently managed to buy my own house after a lot of saving and scrimping, and now my monthly expenses of a mortgage and running the house mean I have less 'disposable' income than I have ever had, Is this not taken into consideration when agreeing a suitable maintenance payment?

The money you pay is a percentage of your net income and although it would take into account certain depts if they where related to your relationship to the childs mother or if you had extra travel expenses (only long distance travel) to see your child it doesn't take into account your day to day expenses of living

My ex has recently explained that she requires MORE money from me and is threatening to go through the CSA. She has given me a spreadsheet breaking down all of his costs...
I have calculated that I currently pay roughly the amount I should be (perhaps I'm underpaying by £32 per month according to the CSA guidelines)...
However for a long time I was paying more than the guidelines suggested, and have actually calculated that I overpaid by approx £4,500 over the course of 5 years.

5. Does this count for anything?

Any over payments you have made in the past I'm afraid don't change what the CMS would calculate for you to pay if your ex went to them

Any help / advice would be most welcome and greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much!

Really sorry as it seems i've been negative to each of your questions, I don't always agreed with the CSA/CMS system but you can't change it i'm afraid.

GTTS

Hi Shep 15jon

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

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. Therefore, both you and your son’s mother have the freedom to decide how much child maintenance will be paid and the method that you will pay your son’s mother. This flexibility derives from a family-based arrangement not being legally-binding and there being no involvement from the courts or the Child Maintenance Service.

As Got the teeshirt has mentioned, using a Standing Order will make sure payments are made on time and are recorded. If you prefer cash payments you should keep a written record or receipt as proof of payment, our family-based arrangement form has been designed for that. Although not legally-binding, our family-based arrangement form can help to formalise your arrangement, if both of you use it to write down what you have agreed. You can find all our tools and guides on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/toolbox/index.asp.

A family-based arrangement can include money and other kinds of support, such as you directly paying for things that your son may need. Family-based arrangements are also very flexible and can easily be reviewed, such as if you or your son’s mother’s circumstances change. You can find more information on family-based arrangement on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/family/index.asp.

To help you talk about financial matters with your son’s mother, you may find our page on talking about child maintenance useful ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/family/talking.asp). You may also wish to use our online calculator which will give you an indication of a payable amount of child maintenance if the Child Maintenance Service is used ( http://www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator/). You can use this tools to help you work out a payable figure for your family-based arrangement.

If an application was made to the Child Maintenance Service, 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. They also take into account other factors such as the number of night stays per year the paying parent has the child that maintenance is being paid for. In general, the paying parent’s living costs are not taken into account. The receiving parent’s income and other child maintenance they may receive is not taken into account when working out child maintenance. You can find more information at https://www.gov.uk/how-child-maintenance-is-worked-out/how-the-child-maintenance-service-works-out-child-maintenance.

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