She wants to move in England, I'm french.

Hi everybody,

This is my first message on this forum, and I need some help.
As I am French I may make some mistakes, so please excuse my english.

Here is my story.
I am French and had a relationship with a German girl 6 years ago.
My ex decided to separate with me just after getting pregnant.
Until now we manage to keep a good relationship in spite of the situation and I managed to visit my child regularly.
Until now we made a private arrangement and I was paying about 127€ (108 GBP) for my child, which is a really small amount for a child support for a child of 5 years old. On other hand, I spent around 150€ (128 GBP) each time I was visiting my child.

She lately decided to move to England, officially to continue her study there, unofficially, she has a relationship with an English guy there.

She now wants to recalculate the child support and it is legitimate as it is now really low.

My incomes are now about 1700GBP per month.
She is asking me to give her 265GBP for the child support as my child is turning to 6 years old, but she didn't take into account the visiting fees.

I want her to take into account those visiting fees and take in charge the difference as I shouldn't suffer from her decision to move to England, I want also her to take in charge a part of the fees I would engage if nothing would change as she is also responsible to help me seeing my child regularly.

I contacted the CSA and ask them for some help, but they told me we are not under their jurisdiction as we are both not English, so it would be either a private arrangement or a legal arrangement in front of the court.

I would like to now if those requirements are reasonable.
If not, what would be reasonable then?
If yes how can I convince her to make a private agreement following those requirements?
If we go to the court, which I would like to avoid, will they accept these suggestions and what should I expect ?

Where could I find help about this issue?

Thanks in advance.

Best regards.

go to the CSA website, there is a maintenance calculator on there.

The CSA calculator is a good indication but it doesn't make deductions towards the costs of contact. Deductions don't usually cover the full costs of travel and in any case the CSA doesn't have jurisdiction when the non resident parent lives and is employed abroad. I would try to negotiate a compromise, possibly using a mediator to assist in reaching an agreement that can work for everyone.

When the courts become involved they may use CSA rates of child support as a starting point but judges must give regard to a checklist of factors in s25(3) Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The amount of child maintenance ordered by a court may therefore be more or less than CSA rates.

Fiona wrote:

The CSA calculator is a good indication but it doesn't make deductions towards the costs of contact. Deductions don't usually cover the full costs of travel and in any case the CSA doesn't have jurisdiction when the non resident parent lives and is employed abroad. I would try to negotiate a compromise, possibly using a mediator to assist in reaching an agreement that can work for everyone.

When the courts become involved they may use CSA rates of child support as a starting point but judges must give regard to a checklist of factors in s25(3) Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The amount of child maintenance ordered by a court may therefore be more or less than CSA rates.

Thank you very much Fiona for your answer. How could I contact a mediator to help us doing a private arrangement ?

I was expecting her to take in charge an important part of the fees, as she is the one moving away and it would be unfair if my relationship with my son would suffer.