extra income and child maintenance

My hubby has moved out to live with new partner leaving me and 11 year old son. He has worked out a maintenance payment and pays monthly. I have been on csa website and worked out a payment based on what his wage was last April. Hubby also gets income from band he plays in regularly which is cash in hand. How do I know he's paying correct amount as he's obviously not declaring this extra? Also how do I know what his wage is now? Is it best to make him go through csa but he wont tell them about his extra income? He is still paying half mortgage is this taken into account?

At present, if he is paying voluntarily and the level is what it should be based on his last known wage and he is also contributing to the mortgage, then I would not approach the CSA. Contributing the the household via mortgage payments is also looked at CM in 'lieu'. To get both is a good result to be honest.

If he is getting cash in hand its VERY hard to prove the amount he recieves.

IF you do approach the CSA, and they assess him and it turns out the amount is lower than what you are receiving, it would be hard to backtrack..

What is the status of the separation?
Have you issued proceedings or the petition?

His only 'legal' obligation is CM at CSA level. Many argue that as he is no longer living in the FMH then you should be paying him rent for the enjoyment of his half of hte house, however you would pay this direct the mortgage co.

But without knowing the full picture then its hard to comment.

If you post the following details then you will get more relevant advice.

Your respective ages;

The number of children you have and their ages;

How many nights the children spend with each parent;

The length of your marriage and any period of pre marriage cohabitation;

Your respective incomes;

Your respective outgoings;

Your assets - both soley held and joint;

Your liabilities.

I'd agree with eyes and say you're onto a good thing!
If you go through the CSA they might take off the contribution of what he pays towards the mortgage and you could actually be worse off...dont rock the boat!
Also, my friend sings in a band..the band have 5 members and for each gig, depending on the venue they get between £100 and £150 for performing.
They have a couple of gigs a month...and in all honesty the money received would probably be "drank" on the night...lol..I know my mates is!
From someone who has not only fought for 2.5 years to get CM off an obviously weathy NRP and who lost hers and the kids home to the NRP's greed and corruptness (is that a word?) then I'd say you're onto a good thing.
The CSA are a load of rubbish anyway - you'd probably wait a year before they even picked up your file!
Lou xx

Thanks extra info;
I am 48 him 40
1 child 11 years
Has stayed with NRP 2 nights so far
Lived together 16 years married 5 in august
I earn £10000 Him £43000 but varies as he also gets commission
Only assets is house and furniture
House worth £145000 Mortgage £108000
Took £20000 on mortgage just before he left to go towards sons school fees.
He is now living with new partner so his outgoings have surely reduced. I still live in FMH and pay everything and half mortgage

Is the FMH suitable for you and your son? ie is it 2-3 beds? Any bigger and it would be deemed too big for your needs?

ARe you getting all the tax credits you can and is that included in the 10K salary of yours? Is that full time salary or part time?

You both need houses that provide a room for your son. If he is living with NP then his housing needs would be met meaning that you could for example, be entitled to all the equity in the FMH, due to the difference in income.

No pensions?

on 43K what is that take home..about 3.5K a month?
It seems to me that if he is paying you the CSA on that it would be about 550 a month if he say, has your son once a week overnight (on average)

If it was me I would be looking to bring the montly incomes a bit closer together, via tax credits, CM and perhaps Interim Spousal maintence (depending on what your earning potential is)
If your 10K is including tax credits I would say that another 550 a month in CM will bring you up to around 1300 a month, if you then perhaps go for another say 400-500 a month in SM either via him paying you direct or paying the mortgage that will bring your income to about 1800-2000 and his to about 2.5 leaving you both about equal..

Then perhaps discuss how the only asset (house and equity) is divided up.

Maybe he pays the mortgage or pays you SM until your child is 18 or out of full time ed, then the house is sold and he gets a bit of the equity then, or you have the opportunity to buy him out.

Need a bit more info on your income to give more solid advice.

Thanks again.My salary is £8796 pa net part time. I gave up full time to look after our son. I also get PER MONTH child benefit £81 tax credits £370 child maintenance £400. ( £19000 pa net) I have a pension which is pitiful as only work part time he has nothing. House is 3 beds. Son not stayed at his dads since he moved in with new partner and before thet only a couple of nights. He now lives much further away so sees son one eve for 1 1/2 and one day for about 4 / 5 hours. Either at work or playing with band. He says he is running up loads of debt and can't keep paying his share of mortgage, but his new partner is his boss at work so she must be earning a decent wage? Surely now they are a couple their salaries are together? Can't afford a solicitor so we will need to sort this ourselves but it's like wading through mud!

Hmm ok. that brings your salaries a lot closer not still not equal. Courts will always expect you to include tax credits in your income. The courts will also expect you to maximise your earning potential, given you have a child in big school.

If it was me I would ask for SM for an interim, perhaps until child is 18 in order that you can look to increase your income slowly without feeling so much pressure and also have help towards the mortgage. Obviously the CM will be there if he is PAYE as he has no way out of this so you will be able to bank on that.

THen you need to decide what to do about the house.
Can you manage the mortgage if he contributes say 400/300 in SM and the 400 in CM?
Obviously you will also see a reduction in bills, council tax etc now that he is not living in hte house, can you manage all that on your income?

If his take home is 3500, take out the CM/SM that leaves him with about 2500..I am not sure the school fees will be a priority given the incomes now and the small amount of equity left in the FMH. Do you have a plan moving forward for this?

(BTW-all my children came out of private schooling when we split. In our case we couldnt even afford to send them there in the first place and I was only earning 1500 a month and my wife is at home fulltime)

His NP income and assets wont be on the table, for reasons you can probably understand BUT he will be deemed 'housed' by the courts so more of his income will be freed up for SM/mortgage etc

Its been said on this board a few times that a single male needs about 2K a month to live. so anything about this is on the table for SM

For what its worth, I take home 1300 a mont now, have about the same in the way or mortgage/equity and I pay CM for 3 kids so am only left with 800 a month for all my outgoings so i know how hard it is going to be.