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Hello Forum People
May as well get straight to it.....
I have been separated from my wife for 3 years now. Still not divorced but paying maintenance privately and having access.
I am currently having my lovely 2 girls 182 nights per year. Pretty lucky eh! but not enough for my liking. My (ex) wife has agreed to this verbally. I pay £450 per month to her privately by direct bank transfer (traceability etc)
She works full time (as do I) and is always asking for more money. I bit the bullet and contacted the CSA just to ensure that what I was paying was enough. Needless to say, I am paying £200 more to her per month than I need to.
My queston / statement is, as we dont have anything in writing regarding access, my thoughts are the minute I say I am paying too much, she will stop me seeing them as much and the payments go up. Is there anything I can do prior to this that can safeguard the access. The money is not the be all and end all but I would like to treat them when I have them.
I understand that solicitors etc will need to get involved but its an expense that I cant afford.
Any other's in a similar position?
Thanks for your time in reading this.
its a tricky one.......do not pay cash in hand without written receipts from her........Standing Order is always best with Maintenance as the heading for the transaction....that way you can then prove (should you need to) that you've always paid your required amount of maintenance.
legally the minimum maintenance has to be paid at the current rates set out by the CSA 15% for one, 20% for two children. this reduces if you have your kids over certain numbers of nights within the year..... see CSA Options for the calculator etc... to work out the correct amount you should be paying.
the problem you have is no matter whether you pay the minimum of lots more if your ex decides to restrict your access if you redcue the maintenance then you will have a big fight on your hands....
unfortunately Access and Maintenance are not linked....and do not matter to an ex! you have to pay whether you see the kids or not.
if you threaten to go the legal you may find yourself like many of us out here getting no contact until a court decide and then it'll depend on how "she who must be obeyed" then play it!
Really appreciate your response. I know there are lots more people in a lot worse positions. I have checked and double checked the money to night ratio and am happy that I have the right info to hand. Just a matter of getting the access in writing (as I can prove that I am paying 2.5 x more than the c s a would "charge") and then putting the money to use in my home to feed and clothe them more. Tricky old situation. Forgot to say on top of the money I give, I am also paying off her debt of 30k! Never get joint credit cards!
Cheers again. Good luck sir.
Hi,
CSA calculations are pretty straight forward, and take into account upto four elements, your net earning after tax, NI and pension, how many children you are liable for, how many children you are the resident parent too and the average nights per year the children stay with you.
The basic charge is 15% for one child, 20% for two and 25% for three or more.
Next taken into account is any children you are resident parent to, for this you deduct 15% of the above for one child, 20% for two and 25% for three or more.
This then gives you your absolute liability.
From here the overnight adjustment needs to be made, for this deduct a further 1/7 of your absolute liability for every 52 nights the child stays with you.
In your position your basic liability would be 20%, assuming you aren't resident parent to any other children this adjustment can be ignored, and then the overnight adjustment would reduce your liability by 3/7.
Regarding how you play your situation, it's difficult to say, if your current solution has been in place for sometime, then a court is unlikely to change it without good reason, however that would require a court application and the time that would inevitably take. It maybe that you have little choice but to bite the bullet in the short term, to enable you to regain the 'norm' in the long term.
In addition to Tiggers response, the CSA may take into account any debts that were taken out during the relationship which was for the benefit of the family at the time.
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