Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: We are not open to new posts at this time
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Hello,
I am new to this site and like many on here, I have many woes as a result of divorce.
In my divorce settlement agreement, I agreed to pay the CSA maintenance for my children until they finished their under-graduate degrees - should they wish to go to university.
I have read somewhere that CSA payments are enforceable until the age of 18/19. As I have agreed to pay the money in the settlement agreement, do I have to pay my ex-wife directly whilst my children are at university, or can I pay the same money to them directly?
My issue (like many dads) is that after being cleaned out by my ex-wife, I am trying to start again from scratch financially. I want to help my children as much as I can, but after paying out the CSA sum I still need to live.
Therefore, when each of my children goes to university can I pay them the money directly?
I think that a court ordered maintenance agreement can be overridden and replaced by an agreement with the CSA after the court order has been in place for 12 months, I'm pretty sure this is the case.
You can approach the CSA yourself and ask them to set up maintenance, they will ask for your salary details and about any other income/ assets you have, and on the information you provide they will decide an amount.
The rules regarding maintenance through the CSA are that you are liable to pay child support until a child is 16 unless they are in non advanced education in which case you will continue to pay until they are 20 or have left non advanced education. You will not be eligible for any more payments once they go to Uni.
To give yourself an idea of how much you might be expected to pay you can google the CSA calculator, input your details and you will be given an amount. There is also a useful sticky at the top of the Child Maintenance section called "how does the CSA calculate payments" it links to a CSA leaflet that explains a little more about the system and also talks about any reductions you might be entitled to.
This may be the way forward for you, once they start Uni you can pay them directly.
Thanks.
The sum I pay now was calculated using the CSA tool. I just wanted to clarify that once my children have completed non-advanced education (A levels) at eighteen, whether I can pay the same amount directly to them instead, that I pay their mother currently?
Once your children have left school after the end of term, June I think, you will be required to continue payment to the mother until September. This is when your ex's entitlement to Child Benefit should also stop. Sometimes the mother doesn't inform the Child Benefit Agency immediately and this can cause problems, as this is the criteria the CSA use to determine whether you should be paying or not.
After this point its up to you if you want to continue payments directly to the children, you don't have to but its great that you do! 🙂
- Samaritans – call 116 123
- Shout – text the word ‘Shout’ to 85258
