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Where to start, split up nearly four years ago. Work away from home on a 2 on 3 off rota. The first 2 years I had boys staying with me for 3 weeks on every leave. Ex wanted more money and this went up to £300 per month. There fore I only have boys stay aprrox 170 nights per year. I pay for various things including trainers, clothes, football fees, contact lenses etc. No of which seem to matter to my ex. So though all was well until i started seeing somebody eventually moved in together, nice new house with her kids and still have my boys staying with me when I am at home. Now I am being asked to pay over £400 per month. Fair enough I worked loads of over time last year to pay for house etc but all went into house.
I tried the CSA calculator which actually came out at £316 a month. Thats if I included my new partners kids, obviously more if not. This year no overtime at present and payments would be a lot less using CSA calculator. So my question is how would the CSA work out my payments i.e. by last years wages or this years. And should i be paying all these extras etc. I dont want to be pushed into a position where my ex gets more money I have to stop the extras and kids think I am the one that is being tight. Would not be so bad but new partner only gets £20 per month as her ex is useless and does not work.
A bit of advice would be nice.
I dont suppose the CSA take into consideration the 220 nights for the first 2 years then 190 nights the following year. Never missed a payment etc.
Hi ST1050,
I think I would try talking to your ex and explaining the "if" you were to go to the CSA what she would be entitled to and that although you don't want to be forced down that route you also don't want to leave yourself without enough money to live or do nice things for and with your boys.
The CSA calculator is pretty much spot on so put everything into it and it will tell you what you should pay.
Use your last 2 payslips as this is what the CSA will ask you for if they assess your case, put the children living with you down and the number of nights your boys stay now and it will work it all out.
as far as i'm aware it looks at here and now and doesn't take anything from the past into account. That can work for and against for you as you were earning more before but then on the other hand you did have your boys for more nights. Either way I would have thought you would be better off with a arrangement base on CSA rules and you will also know where you stand, with no sudden out of the blue increases when your ex decides to ask.
Darren
Hi
Darren is quite correct that the CSA don't take last year into account, unless they think you are hiding money anywhere. Equally you are right that they won't take into account the number of days you had your children last year.
The simple fact is that you can use the calculator to work out what the CSA would expect and use this to negotiate with your ex. Beware, if you reduce your payments based on the days you have your children, then your ex may decide that she wants to keep your sons for more days in the year to increase the payments. The money you pay should cover everything for the children, so in theory you could pay that and pay nothing else, in which case your ex may then tell the boys that you are being tight with the finances. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution. The best chance you have is to work out exactly what the CSA would expect, and then negotiate with your ex to increase what you pay overall to get what you want - you will have to swallow the fact that you will be paying more than the minimum, but with any luck, your ex will realise that if she isn't reasonable, she will get less overall.
Thanks for the replies guys,
Funny you mention about nights with me. Called at the weekend and it appears all of a sudden kids are only with me for 2 weeks this time home. When asked about that, never got a decent answer and heard in the back ground that it was my turn for 3 weeks. So that tells a story??? As you say better try to get an agreement as such and see what happens. Will keep you up to date with how things progress. To soft as I feel i should just tell the boys the whole truth at times as they are old enough now. But may end up worse off. The things you do to try and keep everybody happy even when your not at fault. Cheers for now.
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