Advice re Child Support Agency.

Hi,
In divorce process, STBX moved out but is still paying mortgage until I find a job(2 Young kids) and I will pay him back all payments from my settlement.

He has stated that he will never pay more than 100 per week for the kids ever under any circumstances. He has earning poetential of 920 per week.

Is he supposed to pay 20%????Is 100 fair or should one fight for what the law states children are entitled to?

I'm just interested to know any of your views as all hell will break loose if I do involve the CSA and I don't want to make things worse.

Thanks xx

I would hope he is prepared to pay the amount legally accepted by the CSA.
The 20% is of his net income and reductions can be made for overnight stays. But if he pays the mortgage in addition I'm not sure. In my case x paid an amount above CSA and I paid mortgage out of this also.
If you do need to involve CSA and 'all hell breaks loose' than so be it. He has the choice to abide by the law or not. My friend reluctantly went to CSA and was awarded an increase and also arrears. X not at all happy but if her had played ballin the first place...

Bunty,

When my ex and I started going through divorce proceedings she was claiming that I should pay well in excess of what the CSA state I should.

My solicitor advised me not to contact them as once they had their claws in me I would never be able to wriggle free.

In the end, I took it on risk and spoke to them. I found that they stood apart from the rest of the divorce process in that they had a set of rules and they applied them fairly.

You are quite right that they will require 20% of his income to go to you as a baseline.

If he continues to pay the mortgage after the assessment, they will offset this against his payments (don't know if it is in part or in full).

If he has staying contact of more than 52 nights per annum they will grant him a 1/7th reduction (2/7ths for 104 etc.), which I think is reasonable as they are under his roof and he is paying for them at that time.

If he incurs significant travel costs coming to see the children this may also be offset.

None of this is calculated until you contact the CSA. They in turn will contact him and make an assessment based on the evidence the two of you provide.

I set out the facts of contact, costs I incurred etc. with supporting evidence and was given a figure to pay which I felt was appropriate. I choose to pay through the CSA as I cannot trust my ex and wish to have nothing to do with her on a financial basis. You are in the lucky position where you can require he pays money to them, and not to you, so it is to the CSA that he must give his excuses if they payments are late. Even so, you can end up out of pocket as there will always be a delay if the CSA need to chase him up - unless they get him to sign up to a direct debit, which for some reason it is not possible to cancel??? (I needed to when I changed bank ac, although the CSA did take the money out of the right one).

As for the mortgage, it really depends on what is going to happen with the house. If it is going to be sold then logically the only money you should pay him back is the portion of his mortgage payments which are going to fund your asset (your bit of the house). If you are going to stay in it, I think you may have a problem as you will need to take on the mortgage (or get your own) and pay him out - giving you an even bigger mortgage... in a falling property market. My advice to both of you would be to change the mortgage (if possible) to an interest only one until all of this is settled. If you suggest that to him he may realise that you are only after what is logically yours and are not out to take him for every penny he has.

I hope you can sort it out as my ex and I started on fairly amicable terms and then she got greedy. I would suggest contacting the CSA, especially as they will take his mortgage payments into consideration (thus keep him a bit happier) and will reassess once the finances are sorted between the two of you.

Alfie

Just wanted to make a comment re the CSA taking the mortgage payment he makes into account.

Currently he has a financial interest in the property and therefore they don't take him making payment towards it as a possible deduction in child maintenance.

His mortgage payment would currently just be looked at in lieu of Spousal Maintenance possibly.

There are a lot of variables that you need to look at both in terms of agreeing to pay him back the mortgage payments he is currently making as well as any settlement.

Get some advice before you agree to anything financial.

xx Sarah xx

I went to the CSA for mine to and was told they wouldn't take the mortgage payments into consideration as I had an interest. Neither would they take into account the family suite which is on a loan taken out in my name as it equates to less than £60 per month.

You do pay 15% for the first child, 20% for two and 25% for three or more. I pay 25% and I'm fine with that. My ex wanted so much more on top of everything else I paid for that this was the only way to do it. She told them I had no contact with them to get the maximum amount and then when I got my contact order they were great on sight of the court order and cafcass letter at reducing it to take into account those dates I had the children which was fair.

I know you hear horror stories about them but to be honest in this case they have protected me.

T

I also spoke to CSA regarding other issues.

The interesting point that the CSA state is that everything on top of their amount becomes a "gift" including things like pack lunches, other school expenses, clothes, etc.

This could mean that the receipient of the CSA becomes worse off in these situations than they would have been even if the amount paid prior is less than what the CSA calculator would pay

Hi and thanks for all your replies!

I phoned the CSA last week and they won't take the mortgage payments into consideration. They are only interested in 20% net income for the children.

I may have a job very soon(fingers crossed) and then I am agreeing to pay the mortgage on this house gladly but he wants me to pay the mortgage payments on the holiday home too and I absolutely refuse. I'd rather he sold it and used the money to pay off the mortgage and then get an interim payment on his very large substantial compensation claim.
I will be working for the minimum wage.
He refuses to do either and prefers to rent a room so he gets sympathy. Pity I have to let my kids sleep there where he smokes in the room as they sleep.He thinks the judge will feel sorry for him.