Additional maintenance payments claimed by child

I am divorced with two children and have a minute of agreement dating from April 2002 which states that I will pay aliment to my ex-wife at £50 per week. I have paid this since that time despite several changes in circumstances which should have seen this reduced but my ex-wife refused to recognise these changes and it was not worth going to court over. My eldest daughter has now left school intending to go to college and then university and is threatening to take me to court to get additional aliment from me in her own right despite the fact that her mother still refuses to accept any change in what I pay to her (indeed she has indicated that she would expect me to continue to pay the £50 even if it was only for my youngest daughter). I am now re-married with two step-children to support and if my case were assessed by the CSA I would be paying slightly less money for the two children. Does my daughter have any case and do I need to give her solicitor details of my income and outgoings so he can "assess the case" as he suggests?

I've replied to your PM.

Hi Mike

Surely you want to support your daughter at University? Your step daughters are only that, step, but your daughters are your daughters. Your step daughters' fathers should be helping to support them financially and if he/they are not, it is not your responsibility.

I have 3 daughters, the oldest about to go to University. I would sell my body if she needed it for university - as it is I am selling alot of stuff I dont need in my house in order to help her have a decent financial start.

Jo x

I don't have a problem keeping supporting both my daughters but I do not believe I should have to pay twice as I am still paying my ex-wife maintenance for both girls. This despite the fact that I do not get to see either of them. My daughter has a part-time job, both my ex and her live-in partner work and they live in a new house, have a new car and go on foreign holidays so they are not asking for more money out of hardship. I just can't afford to pay anymore than I am doing and have offered to pay my daughter directly if her mother will agree to reduce what I pay her by a similar amount. She has refused to accept any change in circumstances over the last few years(even to the extent that she insisted that I should still pay even when I was out of work for a few months)and because the minute of agreement was in place I just had to do it or she was threatening to send in baliffs. I am already paying more than I believe I should be as the amount was agreed when I was in a better paid job and before both of us got new partners. I just feel that I should pay a fair amount and would pay the £50 until both girls have left education, even though it has at times being a struggle to find the money- I'm just so grateful that my new wife has been so supportive over this.

Hi

I would love to still have contact with my girls but their mother has turned them against me yet i still pay what I can afford, and probably would have helped out more if there was the need. If they got back in touch it would be great and your ex should be grateful that you have encouraged your children to try to maintain contact. My now wife is so different with my step-children and their father - encouraging them to visit him, go on holidays,etc and only taking the maintenance that he would have to pay through the CSA as compared to trying to get every last penny like my ex has tried to do with me and when I have drawn the line (she wanted me to pay the whole of extra foreign school trips and I said that I should only pay half including spending money)she turned the girls against me saying I could afford it and she couldn't. The next week she went out and bought a brand new car and booked them a three week holiday to Florida!! while we went to stay with relatives for a week in England for our hols that year so that I could pay for the school trips. Sorry if I sound bitter and it sounds like you are getting a raw deal too from the other side of things. Just remember you'll be the one at their graduations and how proud you'll be then. I look forward to being at my step-kids graduations if they hopefully get that far, with their mum (my wife), their dad and his partner - isn't that the way it should be, Mike