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Reporting a concern
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Report child abuse or neglect to your local council
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Hi I've just registered with this site so hi to all 🙂
My son is 15 and has been kicked out of school for non attendance and basically being disruptive etc. he lives with his mother and has stopped coming to see us about a year ago (I live with my fiancee and our son who is 7). He has also just became a dad himself a couple of weeks ago so should I still be paying maintenance?
Thanks
Hi is your maintenance a voluntary payment or csa
Hi and congratulations on becoming a grandparent - presumably not something you quite expected yet. If he's still living with your ex, which I presume he must be, as long as she is receiving child benefit, then you are bound to pay maintenance, certainly if you are paying through the CSA. Might be worth giving the benefits office a call to see what the situation is with your ex and child benefits - they probably can't tell you the details, but you can ask then general and hypothetical questions which they may be able to give you the rules on.
Thanks for the condgrads but def not what I wanted lol its thru the csa the child maintenance and as far as I know he is stayin with his girlfriend and her parents but obviously saying hes still with mum. I hav heard he is gettin money from government because he is now a dad but not sure if its true. Thanks for the advice as I know that the maintenance money goes straight to the local pub every thursday when she receives it!
Hi Aidensparent
Thank you for your post. I am William the Child Maintenance Options consultant. I understand that you currently pay child maintenance through the Child Support Agency (CSA). However, your 15 year old son has been excluded from school and become a parent.
You have mentioned that your son is no longer living with his mother, his mother would need to inform the Child Benefit of this change. With your son living with his girlfriend's family they may be entitled to claim Child Benefit for him. As your son is still a child, he is entitled to be maintained by both parents. Under the CSA legislation the person who receives Child Benefit would be classed as the Receiving Parent. You may also wish to contact his school for proof that he has been excluded and then you may wish to contact the Child Benefit office with the information you receive.
With you currently paying maintenance to the CSA, you may wish to contact them directly to see where you stand on this matter. Their contact details can be found on any letter they have sent you, or this website https://www2.dwp.gov.uk/csa/v2/en/setup/apply-by-telephone.asp provides their contact details.
To find out more about how Child Maintenance Options can help you visit www.cmoptions.org or call us free on 0800 988 0988 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am and 4pm on Saturday.
I hope this helps.
William
@Child Maintenance Consultant. Hi just a follow up to your answer my daughter is 16 / 17 in October she has just been kicked out of school for a sulking a teacher. (Don't ask). Can this affect if I still have to pay for child maintenance. As the terms are as long as she is in full time education. As she is no longer does this affect payments.
Thanks for any help
@cleggsta unfortunately, the CM consultant is no longer on this forum (the post you have replied to is 11 years old), but hopefully someone with more experience will have an idea on this. It might be worth speaking to CMS to ask their view on this, and to see if you can get any evidence from the school if permanent exclusion.
@cleggsta will she return to school or attend another one? With CMS, as long as child benefit is active, will expect you to keep paying.you can try contacting them to report this change.
@bill337 I went down the school last yesterday and the head teacher has said the mother withdrew her and is going to homeschooling. As she has already turned 16 the direct gov site states that home schooling has to be put in place before her 16th birthday.
@cleggsta relates to home schooling situation:
https://www.justanswer.co.uk/family-law/nyw2v-paying-ex-wife-child-support-10-years.html#:~:text=Regarding%20your%20daughte r's%20education%2C%20if,specifically%20tied%20to%20educational%20expenses