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Good Afternoon Sarah
I am just new to this site and have a few questions to ask and would be grateful if you could help me out in anyway.I stay in Scotland and I understand some Laws are different to those in England and would be grateful to any advice you could give me.
My son is 13years old and I currently pay £120 per week for him through the C.s.a to my ex partner,whom I was never married to.
Before I was having access to my son anytime I wanted to and he always wants to come and see me,but after an argument with my ex she is now telling me I have to arrange a time to see him as I work offshore and she will decide if that is suitable and which I am none to happy about.Can you tell me is there anyway which the courts would act to allowing me to see my son more???
Also my ex girlfriend has said to me she is happy to stay at home and put her feet up and allow me to pay for everything as she cannot be assessed by the C.S.A as she has a medical condition although this does not stop her working more than 16 hours a week and I find it hard to belive that the Csa cannot assess her,what are your thought on this please.
Also my new girl friend and I are planning moving in together but she is worried if we move in together that my ex will be able to claim money from my girlfriends wage aswell,again is this true and could you shed some light on this matter please.
Hi Corrieboy and welcome.
I have moved your post here as it's a more appropriate section for this.
In answer to your questions, I am not aware of any reason why the CSA cannot assess her - the CSA calculation for your son would be 15% of your income, I would have thought that if you are paying more than this, then you could reduce your payments to this level (if you wish to pay more, then I would suggest setting up a bank account for your son and paying into this for when he's older) - on your ex's arguments, there is nothing she could do, but in any event, the CSA would only assess you for this anyway. Make absolutely sure that any payments you can make have a trail, so don't pay cash and assuming you pay by standing order, then make sure it says "maintenance payment for " on it.
The CSA will not assess any money your girlfriend earns, though if in the future, you get tax credits, these may be assessed in the calculation I believe.
I will ask our expert from CMO to comment on this anyway just to make sure you have the correct information.
As for contact, I would suggest that you first look at whether you think you can come to an agreement through mediation, which would be the best solution, otherwise you are looking at going to court for a contact order.
You are correct in that the laws do differ in Scotland, so I'd have a word with the Scottish Child Law Centre - http://www.sclc.org.uk and let us know how you get on.
Good Afternoon Sarah
I am currently still offshore,but hopefully I still have the documents from the Csa that say my ex partner cannot be assessed on her income. I did find it strange at first that she couldnt be assessed but Im sure she fits into the wage structure that cannot be assessed i.e under £8000 although I now for a fact she has been getting paid cash in hand for working.
The Csa also stated that I was on the old Csa system as I had typed into the weekly payments on the Csa calculator and it was only £90-96 pound per week and yes my bank account statement comes through every month with Csa direct Debit on the account to which I keep account off.
My girlfriend is still really worried about being assessed as she said her friend had the Csa check her wages aswell and that she had to pay toward her Husbands son. I will wait to hear back from you,but once again thanks very much for your help and assistance and its good to actually have someone explain certain things to you about the Csa.
Hi, thanks for your question.
The moderator is correct that CSA work out child maintenance using your income, and that Tax credits are counted as income. However, the CSA does not take into account your ex-girlfriends income/working hours. This is the same whether you live in England or Scotland.
I hope this information helps.
Sarah.
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