I have a slight issue and wondered if anyone has any advice. I have two children and an arrangement with their mother to pay a fixed maintenance every month. This has worked well for many years until the last 6 months where I have been unable to pay the full ammount. I pay for their clubs still and arrange for my parents to pick up, care and drop offs 3 days a week. I have them once during the week and the arrangement was every other weekend however it has been every weekend for quite awhile now which is great for myself but angers me when she goes on about the payments. Because i havent been paying the full ammount the mother has now threatened with taking me to csa. I am working but havent been paid since before christmas as i am sub contracted and have no fixed abode at present as our new house was meant to complete november and still is yet to complete! even though it is an extrememly stressful time and sleeping on our friends sofa bed i still have the children so as not to disrupt them so much. If CSA get involved where do i stand legally can they take what i do not have at the moment thus going into arrears with them strasight away ? and is our situation classed as shared care or do i not see them enough to warrent this. I have no objections in paying for maintenance but its frustrating when she knows the situation we are in at the moment we are trying to help out with the children as much as possible and yet she still finds money to go off on holiday, nails done, hair, new furnishings around the home etc and then complains to me she has no money. I'm not saying she isnt entitled to nice things but common sense would suggest if money is that tight a little sacrifice once in awhile wouldnt go a miss! All I worry about is my children and making sure they are fit and well. I have also recently had to undergo surgery with the strong possibility that my cancer has come back i then worry what will happend then if i cannot work for long periods of time and if the csa do end up getting involved how that will effect everything. Any advice would be gratefully recieved. Thanks
Hi
I would speak to the Child Maintenance Options helpline and see what they can advise.
Payments are worked out on what you earn over a whole year, not what you earn each month, although the amount of overnight stays the children have with you will affect what you have to pay.
You can use the calculator to work out what you would have to pay via CMS.
Hello ttboys
I would like to try and provide you with some information to help, at this difficult time.
Just to make you aware, the Child Support Agency (CSA) no longer accept applications for maintenance. They have been replaced by a new service called the Child Maintenance Service.
If either you or your children’s mother were to make an application to the Child Maintenance Service in the future, you are only legally responsible only for the amount worked out by the Child Maintenance Service, and are not obliged to pay for anything extra. Also, you would only be responsible to pay the amount calculated from around the point you contact the Child Maintenance Service or they contact you.
Under the Government guidelines, equal shared care is where the overall care arrangements for your children is shared equally between you and your children’s mother. If you can prove that both you and your children’s mother have the equal day-to-day care of your children (in addition to sharing overnight), and that you both provide a home for them then there is no requirement for either you or your children’s mother to pay statutory maintenance.
If you are unable to maintain your previously agreed child maintenance arrangement, you may wish to consider re-negotiating this with your children’s mother.
For more information on re-negotiating your family-based arrangement, including the different ways to set up child maintenance and for a more personalised service, you can visit the Child Maintenance Options website at http://www.cmoptions.org.
The DWP have a sorting out separation website that you may find useful. It offers help and support to separating and separated families. The link is: https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Regards
William