Child maintenance

A question about : Child maintenance

Sorry but it's me again with more pesky questions!

I've spent the weekend writing a budget which I can stick to. Just to throw a spanner in the works, my ex has been on the phone wanting to reduce the child maintenance.

His average take home pay is Ј1600 a month. It's Ј1400 basic, but he gets regular overtime and it's rare just to have a basic month. When we split up in March 2002, he agreed to pay me Ј350 a month. This was worked out on the old CSA rules, but he has made payments voluntarily without the need to involve the CSA. I've had the Ј350 every month for 3 years and depend on it.

He said he wants to cut that down to between Ј200-250 as he wants to move in with his g/f and her son. A shortfall of that amount will hit me hard and I am not happy about it.

What should he be paying really and can I expect him to continue with the Ј350 as it's set a standard if you know what I mean.

He also said if my b/f moved in, it would be better for him as he would pay next to nothing. However I don't think that is right as my b/f's income is nothing to do with my ex is it?

Confused and appreciative of help.

Best answers:

• SNAP !!!!
  my ex was giving me Ј300 a month
  he earns about Ј2000 a month plus overtime
  he has bought a house with his girlfriend who prob earns about Ј1500 a month
  he halved the amount of maintenance to Ј150 a month last year
  i tried to go through CSA but they are hopeless and ended up saying I wasnt entitled to anything
  they believed my ex when he claimed that we had joint custody
  so now i have to ask for the Ј150 each month and act as though he is doing me a huge favour
  its awful
  i wish i didnt need it !!!!
  the CSA dont take a partner's income into consideration
  at least this is what they told me anyway !
• hi, i think the csa would only take into account his basic salary as the overtime isn't every month. at the moment they would take 15% of his wages. they do not take partners income into it, but they can reduce the amount he pays if he takes the kid overnight for 1 night a week. if your b/f moved in it would have no bearing on the amount your ex is due as he still has to provide for his child.
  might be worth checking with the csa whether they would take his overtime into account. if not he would only be due you approx Ј210 per month - so it would be better for you to get him to pay Ј250 and not go through the csa.
  hth
• IIRC they average it out over the year based on a few months slips. Worth checking though.
• My friends ex has bonus paid to him twice a year. Friend asked for this to be taken into account as she said it formed a big chunk of his wages, to start off with it was but last year when asked to submit 3 wage slips, he didn't submit the one with the bonus on!!!
  Friends maintainance has gone down as a result.
  I was reading on here recently of a similar situation and the poster said that for this reason she asked for maintainance to be worked out asking his P60.
  Unfortunately i can't remember the thread so i can't give any details.
• Thanks for the help
  I'm currently living on about Ј50-60 a week after housing, utilities and other bills. That's all I have left for food, transport costs etc. If the payment goes from Ј350 to Ј240 a month, it's going to hit me really hard. Guess I will have to redo the budget.
  The frustrating thing is that the money he gives me is used to feed, clothe and keep a roof over his childrens heads. He rarely sees them (his choice as I've never blocked access) so it's muggins who looks after them all the time.
  He can afford to flit off for weekends to places like Prague, Dublin and Barcelona, yet is going to hurt me financially when the boys are just as much his responsibility as mine. It's not fair!!
  On the plus side, the boys don't care for their Dad and I get all the love and cuddles from them which is priceless
• Isn't it 15% for one, 20% for two and 25% for three children?
  Been thinking a lot about this recently too. I was calculated under the old rules 5 years ago and my payments (cЈ500 per month) haven't changed since, which means that in real terms I've lost quite a lot of money as it's not linked to inflation. I've considered asking for a new assessment but as this would again be under the old rules I think I would come out worse off as they would still take housing costs into consideration and the ex has since taken out the biggest mortgage he could get and the poshest company car (hence higher tax) so what he has left is less than it was when initially assessed (or so he says!) I think the new rules would see his payments increase substantially but there's no sign of it being brought in in the near future.
  Ј500 a month seems pretty good but considering he earns approaching, if not more than, 6 figures it infuriates me that he gets off so lightly and lives in luxury while his kids (boy & girl, both approaching 10) have to share a room in a tiny 2-bed flat in a not great area. Also, at his level in his industry it's common to earn a substantial amount in profit-share at the end of the year (this can be say an extra 20% of annual income) which I'm pretty sure the CSA weren't told about.
  One of these days I'll start a vent thread on what mean b*ggers ex's can be...
• Hi one non blonde
  Can't suggest anything about your maintainance, but re the children having to share a bedroom.
  Is it your own place or a council flat? If the latter is it worth pestering council for a 3 bed place.
  If it is keep pestering though. A friend of mine has a 14 year gap between her son and daughter (by different partners) and tried several times to get a 3bed place with no luck. She wanted to stay in area where there are few council properties left, but the twice a 3 bed place did come up she didn't get it.
  In end she has bought the place and is having an extension built. Friend is fortunate that she has 2 downstairs reception rooms so has been able to make son a downstairs bedroom.
  Might be worth you chasing this one up now for your kids.
  best wishes
• I was getting Ј50 a week at one time for my son from his 'father' through the CSA,it was supposed to be weekly although i didnt always get it every week. I to used to rely on this money and if he didnt pay it it would leave me in a right state,i spent so much time on the phone to the CSA about it but when they chased him about it they just put it on his arrears rather than making him pay it straight off. He then decided to get a huge 3 bedroom house that would stretch him to the max so his maintenance would go down (he has another child now) he is up to his neck in debt now (ha haa) i get just Ј5.95 a week for my son now,but at least the worry of relying on his money has gone,its actually left me much less stressed and when the money does arrive in my bank (still not weekly) i just transfer it straight to my sons account. Its not like its even enough to buy him shoes or an outfit. On one hand it makes me angry that he gets away with not providing,but on the other hand i dont have to share my special boy with him and thats worth more than any amount of his money.
• this is true
  although they can just decide to take you off the old system and chuck you onto the new one at any time that suits them or the payer
  in my opinion, my ex figured out (with an insider in the CSA) that he would pay less and persuaded them to change it
  this was before they got their heads together and came up with the ingenious idea of "joint custody"
  GGGGRRRRRR
  its so annoying !!!!!
• The CSA will take into account all earnings that the "Absent Parent" makes including bonuses, overtime etc.
• The CSA guide to how payments are calculated can be found HERE