[Solved] Can I ask for some maintainance back this month

I doubt that you will get anywhere asking for any money back, it would be up to your ex to voluntarily give it back, and that sounds unlikely. Strictly speaking, you could simply not pay her anything at the moment as there is no agreement to do so, in which case she can then go to the CSA, and you will be assessed from the time they open the case, ie when she gets them involved. If your ex delays in contacting the CSA by a few weeks, you will effectively have got your money back.

Have a look at the CSA calculator, but generally with 2 children, you are looking at 20% of your takehome pay, and make sure that you put this money into a saving account if you aren't paying your ex, as the CSA can open a case quickly, but seem to sometimes take months contacting the NRP, all the time arrears are accruing.

Make sure, if you pay your ex directly, ideally do it through a bank and quote a reference of child maintenance, otherwise if the CSA become involved, they may disregard any payments you make to her.

Funny thing is I did ask and she said she would refund. 🙂

I pay by bank transfer so it is on record but good advice to annotate the reference to read child maintanance.

Thanks again...:-)

Regards,

Dave

Hello Dave

I'm William the Child Maintenance Options consultant, although you have said that you have no child maintenance arrangement in place, it sounds like you do have what we call a family-based arrangement. A family-based arrangement is simply an agreement between you and your ex-partner about who will provide what for your children. Family-based arrangements are not legally binding and there is no one to enforce the collection, or refund, of payments.

You've mentioned that your ex-partner has agreed to refund the overpayments that you've made. This shows that you are able to discuss, negotiate and collaborate to make and keep a family-based arrangement which is better for your children. We have tools and guides on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org that may help you keep your family-based arrangement on track. We have a family-based arrangement form, for example, that you can download. It is not a legally enforceable document but may put your agreement on a more formal basis. You can complete this with your children's mother and sign your names to show your commitment to your arrangement.

With regard to calculating and paying your child maintenance, although this is up to you and your ex-partner to decide together, some parents do choose to use the Child Support Agency's (CSA) guidelines as a starting point for their negotiations.

When the CSA works out child maintenance they use the paying parent's income. This includes earnings, money from an occupational or personal pension and tax credits. They use the amount of income left after deductions such as Income Tax, National Insurance and any money paid into a pension scheme.

If a paying parents earnings change from week to week, for example, due to overtime or bonuses, the CSA will work out the average amount of earnings. This is done by asking the paying parent to provide wage slips over a number of pay periods. They'd normally use five pay periods to work out the average.
You can find further information on how the CSA calculate maintenance on their website at http://www.gov.uk/child-maintenance.

You can get an indication of what your payments might be if you were using the CSA by using our online calculator at http://www.cmoptions.org/en/calculator/calculator.asp. It's also worth noting that a family-based arrangement does not just have to be about you paying your ex-partner money. It can include other kinds of support, for example providing clothes for your children or the payment of a household bill.

If you experience any problems with your family-based arrangement and would like to know more about the other child maintenance options available, you may wish to speak to one of our team either through our website or over the telephone, which is free from a landline, on 0800 988 0988.

There is a new sorting out separation web-app that you may also find useful, it aims to make it much easier for separated parents to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages parents to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.