CSA help?

Hi all,

I applied to the CSA in May 11 as my ex hadnt paid a penny for months. He has to pay £40 per week for our two children, as he gets a £20 per week reduction due to the number of overnights he has. Doesnt go far to be honest.

As part of the Consent Order negotiations on finances I obtained joint bank statements. He apparently hasnt ever changed the joint account from being the one that he uses, despite us agreeing that we would not use it, and I havent since Dec 2010 yet it seems that for the past 17 months he has had a payment coming in from his dad for £1200 per month.

I asked him why he has it, as part of his argument for me taking some debt on despite being main carer for the girls is that he earns a low salary. He firstly claimed that he was gifted it, then said it was cos he did some work for his dad, then said it was because he couldnt afford all the bills for the FMH on his own - which he made me move out of? To be honest I gave up asking in the end!

My query I guess is does this make a difference to the CSA calculations? I really am not a money grabber but they worked out his CSA payment based on his "income" of £1k per month, and this is more that doubling it? Also its been paid into our joint account and judging by what hes spent it on, its not gone on the bills, but holidays, meals and underwear lol!

Any help appreciated?

Sorry no if its a gift then no it wont be included in an assessment as it isn''t earned income.

TY - so if its into a joint account is this a joint gift?

Well whatever is in the joint account belongs to both of you so there is nothing to stop you taking money out of it if you want to. You can''t though retrospectively claim that £600 a month of what was paid in by his father belonged to you if it is now spent. You can have whats in there but not what isn''t if that makes sense.

Any overdraft on the joint account is also a joint liability so to be honest you would be better off getting rid of it so that you don''t end up liable for debts he piles up.