Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: We are not open to new posts at this time
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Any advice appreciated. My 16 year old daughter left her mothers house on 12 march 2013 and has never returned. She has moved in with my sister who is unemployed. Have informed CSA of this 1 week after daughter left but they still continue to take money from me saying that my sis needs to make a claim for child benefit, which she has now done and exes child benefit has now been frozen while they investigate. Will I get these payments back and can my 16 year old daughter now claim CSA against her mother by herself or would my sister need to do it?
That's a very tricky one, and I think if I tried to answer, it would be more educated guess than fact, which probably won't be helpful. I will ask the CMO to pop on, but I'm not even sure if it's something they can answer, but hopefully they can point you in the right direction - which may be back to the CSA.
Hi Stefmc26
Thank you for your post, I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I can see from your post that you have a case with the Child Support Agency (CSA). You have mentioned that your daughter has not been living with her mother since March 2013 and has been living with your sister. I understand that you would like to know if you are able to claim your payments back.
We do not have access to any details that the CSA holds about you or your case, however, I can give you general information. Under child support legislation, regular child maintenance payments must be made until a child is 16 years old, or 20 if they are in full-time, non-advanced education (A-level or equivalent), or for as long as Child Benefit is being paid.
With your sister being the main day-to-day carer of your daughter and receiving Child Benefit for her, she would be able to claim maintenance from you and your daughter's mother. I have included a brief description of the different options available to claim child maintenance.
We can help you set up a family-based arrangement, which is an agreement parents can arrange between themselves. It is not legally enforceable, but it is flexible to meet the needs of the parents and the child, and is quick and easy to set up.
The CSA can calculate maintenance payments on parents' behalf and then leave it up to the parents to make the payments between themselves. This is called "Maintenance Direct". A full collection service is the available via the CSA. They calculate, collect and enforce payments on a parent's behalf and, because arrangements made using the CSA are legally enforceable, will take action if payments are not made. If an application is made with the CSA, the paying parent's responsibility to pay will start from around the time the CSA contacts the paying parent.
You may wish to consider a Consent Order, which is an official ruling made by a court. To arrange a Consent Order, both parents need to agree how much child maintenance will be paid and how often before going to court. Arranging a Consent Order can be costly as fees for solicitors, mediators and court costs may apply. Legal Aid will not cover these costs if you are only going to court to obtain a Consent Order for maintenance.
Alternatively, if you or your sister would like to talk to our team in complete confidence about child maintenance you could give us a ring on 0800 988 0988. We also have some other useful tools on our website at http://www.cmoptions.org, to help support parents experiencing separation.
William
- Samaritans – call 116 123
- Shout – text the word ‘Shout’ to 85258
