Hi all. Advice welcome please.
For the last 2 years my ex and I had an agreement of equal 50/50 shared care and maintenance payments was nil.
3 months ago my daughter stopped coming and I have been trying to get a new care agreement and maintenance amount agreed with ex. This is not happening so I want to go through child maintenance. Does anybody know, if child maintenance calculate what I should pay and the receiving parent rejects this, if the cms service has to get involved would I be charged 20% in fees even though I am willing to pay what they calculated? Thanks all.
hi,
how old is your daughter? and any reason why she stopped coming suddenly? do you have a court order?
no, CMS will not charge you 20% fee. this is only used as enforcement, e.g. when one parents refuses to pay maintenance or just stops paying. they call it the collect and pay option. if you do end up going through CMS, then use the direct pay option. you make direct payments to your ex's account each month and its monitored by CMS.
use this CMS calculator to work out how much you are expected to pay: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintenance
still keep trying to reach an agreement with ex, and go to CMS as last resort.
Hi. She is 14. 7 when we split. I'm not 100% sure why she stopped coming, just told me she doesn't want to come. We have never used cms and has always been a family based arrangement but ex is demanding a monthly amount and to be reviewed every 3 months and I will be paying this and that in addition to the payments. Not really comfortable like that. She also wants 3 months back pay. I'm just thinking I need to know exactly what I am paying each month without any surprises so I think would prefer to draw a line from now and start paying what the cms calculate. When they contact my ex I'm just thinking she may reject this so wondered what would happen then.
hi,
ok as she is being very demanding you are better off with cms. review every 3 months lol. cms review every 12 months. so better for you. you should ring cms and sign yourself up. pay £20 to register. if you were to register tommorrow, CMS will not make you do any back-dated payments from date you register. whatever cms calculate for you to pay, that is what you will be paying. ex can reject if she likes. she won't get anywhere. unless you are hiding income and paying her peanuts.
Ah ok thank you. I'm just thinking what if for example she refuses to give bank account details so I cant pay her, what would happen then and would cms then charge me for collect and pay.
cms will send her paperwork asking to fill in bank details. then they pass it onto you. if she refuses, that means she doesn't want maintenance and you don't have to worry.
Your best to reach agreement with ex partner amicably. You don't have to pay child maintenance through csm until your ex partner actually puts a claim in. It isn't backdate but only from date of claim.
Thank you for your reply. Why would I be better off reaching an amicable agreement? She also could turn around at any point and say she want to go through maintenance. I think I would prefer to call cms myself and begin the process.
Is there any chance my ex would have logged a claim with cms at some point in the last 3 months and if a claim is made with either me or her it backdates to when she logged it? Thanks.
Hi. I have no idea tbh. At the moment it looks a lost cause but I can't agree to her mums demands and I need to start paying for my daughter so I see no alternative than to go through csa. Any thoughts welcome please. Thank you