Hi, first post on here. Just looking for some clarification on an issue I am facing.
I have a son who is 2 years old with an ex I was with for around a year.
After a torrid time during the pregnancy, we split on bad terms but I was still as involved in the birth and life of my son but maybe not as much as I would have liked.
When my son was very young, I was only ever allowed access from her house for maybe 2 hours a time twice/three times a week. I was working part time then paying £100 a month in child support, which rose to 150 when I gained a full time job when taking £1000 home. At the start, I was mistakenly giving her cash payments instead of bank transfer which I have now stopped. All the while, I knew that she was collecting every benefit she could get as a single parent.
After I stopped the cash payments, she asked me to start sending the money to an account I knew had no connection to her child benefits. When discussing my boys surname, we argued after she refused to give him my surname or even a double barrel as I thought that was fair considering she had been using my surname in all of the baby announcements on Facebook. After we argued, she had gone behind my back and signed his birth certificate without me whilst also using her surname.
My questions are:
Is it unlawful to deny there is a father in the picture when signing the childs birth ceritficate?
If she's not declaring my payments to her through this seperate account to whoever is managing her child benefits, is she committing fraud that is deemed unlawful?
Since getting a new job, full time with £1,170 after tax, what should be expected to be paid in child support? I am aware there's a 15% rule, but how much is true with that?
Also, if she does declare my £150 payments, would her extra benefits be deducted?
Thank you for any help!
Hi there
To answer your questions -
It isn’t unlawful not to put the fathers name on the birth certificate. There are steps you can take to have your name included. If she agrees later on you can both fill out a ParentalResponsibility Agreement and take it to,the local court to get it signed. Or you can apply to court for a Parental Responsibility Order.
Child Maintenance payments don’t affect any benefits she may be entitled to. That used to be the case, but in 2010 the law changed and child maintenance is no longer counted in any calculations.
For one child you will be looking at about 12% of your gross income, which means before tax. Here’s a link to the CMS calculator, it will give you a rough idea of what you should be paying.
www.gov.uk/calculate-your-child-maintenance
As said, declaring your payments will not affect her extra benefits.
Hope that helps
Hello morc1994
Regarding your concerns relating to the birth certificate, whilst I am not legally trained and therefore unable to answer this question directly, as far as child maintenance is concerned, you would still have a responsibility to pay child maintenance (regardless of whether your name is on the birth certificate or not).
With regards to your ex-partner declaring the child maintenance payments, as Mojo mentioned, receiving child maintenance would not generally have any effect on the benefits your ex-partner is entitled to. Likewise, the benefits that your ex-partner receives would not change the amount of maintenance you would be expected to pay.
Despite the above, your ex-partner would have a responsibility to inform the authority managing her benefits, upon receiving child maintenance.
Something that Mojo also touched on in his post is that there is an Online Calculator, which can give you an estimation as to how much you would be expected to pay in child maintenance. Although the calculator only provides estimations, it can help you with any child maintenance discussions you may have with your ex-partner.
You can find a link to the Online Calculator, as well as a range of other resources to help you set up an effective child maintenance arrangement, on the Child Maintenance Options website, http://www.cmoptions.org.
If you would like to seek expert legal advice on matters relating to the birth certificate or other legal concerns, you could contact Civil Legal Advice (CLA). CLA is the Government-funded, confidential legal service, offering free advice to those eligible for legal aid in England and Wales. You will find their contact details on their website at https://www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice.
You may also be interested to know that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, Sorting out Separation. It aims to make it much easier when you are separated to find the support you need, when and where you need it on a range of concerns, including, money, housing, employment, legal and parenting apart. You can view the website at https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William