maintenance

[wick-girl]

hey whats everyones views on dads paying maintenence for there children?I know there a lot of dads out there that are self employed that lie about there income,does anyone know if that can be overcome and why?ta

[STUDMUFFIN]

I Have 2 Boys From A Previous Relationship And Their Mother Is Absolutely Loaded, But I Dont Receive A Penny Maintenance. It Annoys Me That It Is Absent Dads That Get All The Media Attention As I Know Several Fathers Who Have Full Custody Of Their Offspring And No Maintenance And No Media Coverage

[Thumper]

In my experience,,it cant be overcome,if they are clever enough to "cook the books" to make it look like they are earning less than they actually are it is very difficult to prove otherwise,I tried for years and gave up :roll: my ex ended uppaying just £30 a MONTH when I knew he was earning over £500 a week,I used to do his books for him so I knew what was coming in....proving it was different tho,and the CSA just dont want to know if it is causing them a lot of work!x

[matelot79]

The CSA (full off question marks or I would get banned) have access to the inland revenue, to find out what the person is declaring and paying tax on.
I was working 12 hour nightshifts one time and I had a review of my CSA payments (back in the bad old days when they would take anything up to 30% of my wages) but I knew the shifts were coming to an end in a couple of weeks so tried to put them off, but they went and got my records from the tax man and I was nearly £2000 in debt to them (or her).
Before anyone starts I don’t mind paying “he is my son”, but they must be having a laugh with me, because I pay without question but speaking to other people, who are working (maybe not earning as much as me, my payments would go down quite a bit under the new system, they can now only take 15% and I earn a heck of a lot more than I did 5 years ago) they pay £13 or so for 2 or 3 kids and are fighting to get that reduced as they can’t afford it. Stay out of the pub every night and pay some more maintenance.
I hope you get your problems sorted out and if your ex-partner wants to be part of the children’s future remind them that they don’t just have a moral obligation but a financial one as well.


I Have 2 Boys From A Previous Relationship And Their Mother Is Absolutely Loaded, But I Dont Receive A Penny Maintenance. It Annoys Me That It Is Absent Dads That Get All The Media Attention As I Know Several Fathers Who Have Full Custody Of Their Offspring And No Maintenance And No Media Coverage

It does seem to be the absent dads that make all the bad press.


In my experience,,it cant be overcome,if they are clever enough to "cook the books" to make it look like they are earning less than they actually are it is very difficult to prove otherwise,I tried for years and gave up :roll: my ex ended uppaying just £30 a MONTH when I knew he was earning over £500 a week,I used to do his books for him so I knew what was coming in....proving it was different tho,and the CSA just dont want to know if it is causing them a lot of work!x

If they are self-employed a quick call to HM Customs and Revenue, shaft the tax man but don’t try to diddle (4 letter word deleted) the VAT man.

[mums angels]

The CSA is a waste of space we still get letters addressed to my husband demanding he pay back dated child support for our eldest who is 9 ( as he used to when we split when she was little) but they never pay attention to the countless times we wrote and explained that we were together and married with 2 more kids . they always say they will amend there records but never seem to ..hubby even offered to write me a cheque to get rid of them but they said it had to go to them and they would decide how much i would get ..

as for "cooking the books" unfortunatly it goes on way too much and allows fathers who earn enough to carry on getting the goverment ( or the mothers) to pay for there kids etc personally annoys the heck out of me .

[orkneylass]

2 entirely different issues being discussed here - should both parents be liable for sharing the costs of bringing up their kids when they split up, and are absent mums and dads treated equally? The other issue which has highjacked this is whether the CSA is an effective way of getting absent parents to pay their share.

I think either parent should be prepared to pay up if the money is needed and they can afford it. If they re-marry though, I don't think their partner's income should be counted.

[matelot79]

I think either parent should be prepared to pay up if the money is needed and they can afford it. If they re-marry though, I don't think their partner's income should be counted.

My ex is remarried and he new husbands income did not come into the calculations the last time we were assesed.

[Thumper]

why shouldn't it be taken into consideration?If the parent that has custody remarries their new partner is expected to pay for their children from a previous relationship, so why not both ways? x

[lady penelope]

I have never had a penny from my ex. I have brought them up from age 2 and 3 and got together with my partner a year later. The children now live with my ex. I don't pay a penny for them, unless you count the money I give them!;)

[sphinx]

try sort things out diplomatic or a private arragement of sorts

[matelot79]

why shouldn't it be taken into consideration?If the parent that has custody remarries their new partner is expected to pay for their children from a previous relationship, so why not both ways? x
You would have to ask the CSA that, but it can be a bit embarrassing as you know how much they earn (as it states household income not included in this calculation) and then you think, well I’m getting double what he makes so no wonder I have to pay so much.


try sort things out diplomatic or a private arragement of sorts
That works out okay until you have a fallout and then all "HELL" breaks loose, that is now why CSA is involved but we have been back on friendly terms for 6 years or so now and in the past few months I get yes darling at the end off every sentance. (bit scary)

[orkneylass]

why shouldn't it be taken into consideration?If the parent that has custody remarries their new partner is expected to pay for their children from a previous relationship, so why not both ways? x

Actually, the new partner supporting the custodial parent's children is a matter of choice, not obligation. Student loans and fess, for instance, are only assessed on the custodial parent's income after divorce.

[Thumper]

Yes but its a shame that some ex partners dont feel the same obligation isnt it :evil: x

[Rheghead]

How much is the typical weekly payment to the CSA for one child?

[justine]

That all depends on the amount the missing partner earns...
As for who should pay, both partners should help support their children in any way they can.The ones who annoy me are the ones who dont pay,because they cant be bothered.But then sometimes people are asked to pay daft amounts towards the up bringing of their children.........

[silverfox57]

fathers who a have 2 or 3 part time jobs, to try to misslead csa,and refuse to pay for there children,finanical support,should be NAMED and SHAMED. as might get more fathers to have a moral consideration? for there own flesh and blood

[justine]

fathers who a have 2 or 3 part time jobs, to try to misslead csa,and refuse to pay for there children,finanical support,should be NAMED and SHAMED. as might get more fathers to have a moral consideration? for there own flesh and blood

Not to start a bad debate but why are we all insisting it be the men who should pay.....There are just as many absent mothers in this country....We just assume it is the men.........:confused

[cuddlepop]

Woman do get chased for maintenance too
My eldest daughter choose to stay with her dad.I had my youngest with me and X was asked to pay maintence for her.
He pulled the usual self employed stunt and ended up paying a fraction of what he earned.X decided to put a claim in against me as absent parent and as the only income I had coming in was Carer's allowence they took money from that.
Made sense to someone....:(

[debs]

im up for name and shame too,my ex pays buttons for his 2 kids even tho he owns a company with his wife,trys to tell me and csa he is on a low wage but living the life of luxury and there new born gets the best of everything,think they should realise when they re marry they must remember there kids and only uses them for show to the public

[Tristan]

Actually, the new partner supporting the custodial parent's children is a matter of choice, not obligation. Student loans and fess, for instance, are only assessed on the custodial parent's income after divorce.

In addition in Scotland they don't include the step-parents financial details but in England they step-parents details are included. I don't know what the impact is if any only that the details are included on the student loan application.

[JAWS]

hubby even offered to write me a cheque to get rid of them but they said it had to go to them and they would decide how much i would get .. Now you are getting to the idea behind the CSA. It was not set up for the benefit of the children who were left with a lone parent despite what you are led to believe.
The whole thing was intended as nothing more than another form of taxation.

In many cases what the CSA collects from the missing parent is far in excess of what is handed to the lone parent for the children. The extra being retained by the Government to defray the cost of the benefits handed out to the parent whose partners they haven't bothered to trace or who are on benefits themselves.

I don't know if they have made any moves towards implementing it but there was a suggestion a while back that where there is a voluntary and satisfactory agreement between couples who are separated, and both parties are happy with the situation, the CSA need not get involved.
I assume that it would involve some sort of enforceable legal agreement but the CSA would only become involved if that agreement ceased to be fulfilled.

The CSA itself, almost from the day it was created, has been nothing more than an unmitigated disaster for most single parents and never has fulfilled the role it was intended to fulfil.

If it had been created so deal with those cases where there were difficulties and to leave those where there were none alone then It may have been able to concentrate on those people who were deliberately avoiding their responsibilities.
From what I can gather, if you have an ex-partner who makes it difficult for them to trace, you would have more luck trying to win the Lottery than have any hope of the CSA to catching up with them.

[Rheghead]

So if I earned £18,500 per annum, how much should I expect to pay via the CSA for one child? Is there an online calculator or summat?

Jaws, what you wrote really surprised me, a guy pays more to the CSA than what the CSA pays to his ex mrs, that is shocking.[disgust]

[Thumper]

I dont know if it has changed or not but it used to be that if the parent with custody was on benefits they only got an extra £10 on top of their benefits a week,the rest went back to the government,so if say somebody got £150 a week taken from them £140 goes back to the government x

[wick-girl]

thanks guys for the info,dont believe the csa can help,i have told them about my csa assesment and complained about the outcome but all they say is they can only access it on the details they were given,even though i no my ex is lying i cant prove it. He is falsely telling about his earnings,does any1 know how this can b overcome?

[JAWS]

So if I earned £18,500 per annum, how much should I expect to pay via the CSA for one child? Is there an online calculator or summat?

Jaws, what you wrote really surprised me, a guy pays more to the CSA than what the CSA pays to his ex mrs, that is shocking.[disgust]
If you check behind the original thinking for the CSA you will find that the hidden intention was that those who were either quite willing to pay up or were easily traced, i.e., those on PAYE in full employment, would cover the costs of those who would never be traced or who deliberately avoided the system.

Chasing up those who deliberately avoided payment along with the provision of payments for the single parent and children were secondary to the easy options for collecting of money. Had it been otherwise, the system has been going long enough for it to have been vastly improved in the way it works. The fact that several Governments have known full well that the CSA is totally failing yet none have bothered to make any real attempt to change things says everything.
Every so often they make claims that things will be corrected but when things have moved on simply put it back on the "Too hard to do" pile.

Basically, mugs pay through the nose, wasters get away with it and single parents and children end up no better off and often far worse. The spin at the time was that the onerous burden of chasing up non-payers would be lifted from the poor lone parent and taken over by the might of the CSA.
It is obvious from the reasons behind this thread is that the CSA simply ignore any problems and the burden of chasing non-payers still remains where it was originally, with the lone parent.

I’m not certain but I think the way assessments are made is that they check total income, subtract the amount required for living expenses etc. and then take a portion of the remainder. That’s just from what I have gathered from comments over the years but I could well be wrong.

At least, under the old system, if you point blank refused to pay up you eventually got a free invite at one of HM large Hotels for a time. OK, so that may not have helped the other parent but neither does this system. It was surprising how often the option of pay up or pay a visit became a wonderful attention getter.

Sorry for the rant. I have no personal axe to grind with the CSA as I have never personally had dealings but the absolute deceit and the blatant injustice to almost everybody they have dealings with really gets my goat. It is one of those situations where everybody who should benefit seems to lose out and those who should lose out have the benefit of completely getting away with it.
That, by any stretch of the imagination, is a total disgrace and should never have been allowed to happen.

[silverfox57]

If you check behind the original thinking for the CSA you will find that the hidden intention was that those who were either quite willing to pay up or were easily traced, i.e., those on PAYE in full employment, would cover the costs of those who would never be traced or who deliberately avoided the system.

Chasing up those who deliberately avoided payment along with the provision of payments for the single parent and children were secondary to the easy options for collecting of money. Had it been otherwise, the system has been going long enough for it to have been vastly improved in the way it works. The fact that several Governments have known full well that the CSA is totally failing yet none have bothered to make any real attempt to change things says everything.
Every so often they make claims that things will be corrected but when things have moved on simply put it back on the "Too hard to do" pile.

Basically, mugs pay through the nose, wasters get away with it and single parents and children end up no better off and often far worse. The spin at the time was that the onerous burden of chasing up non-payers would be lifted from the poor lone parent and taken over by the might of the CSA.
It is obvious from the reasons behind this thread is that the CSA simply ignore any problems and the burden of chasing non-payers still remains where it was originally, with the lone parent.

I’m not certain but I think the way assessments are made is that they check total income, subtract the amount required for living expenses etc. and then take a portion of the remainder. That’s just from what I have gathered from comments over the years but I could well be wrong.

At least, under the old system, if you point blank refused to pay up you eventually got a free invite at one of HM large Hotels for a time. OK, so that may not have helped the other parent but neither does this system. It was surprising how often the option of pay up or pay a visit became a wonderful attention getter.

Sorry for the rant. I have no personal axe to grind with the CSA as I have never personally had dealings but the absolute deceit and the blatant injustice to almost everybody they have dealings with really gets my goat. It is one of those situations where everybody who should benefit seems to lose out and those who should lose out have the benefit of completely getting away with it.
That, by any stretch of the imagination, is a total disgrace and should never have been allowed to happen.
very well put.argee with you ,as it is the dhildren who lose out .

[celtic lass]

i think the csa is a waste of time if there is an arrangement between a couple about maintence that the csa has nothing to do with they still try to poke their nose in and worse still if another child is born to another partner the csa wont take into account the arrangement maintenance because it was not done through the csa and that is a fact as my son is having this problem with a second child at the moment he has no problem paying for his kids but the csa is hopeless[evil]

[wick-girl]

there has to be an answer out there somewhere,is there not something else that can be done to make them pay?just think its sad they are some dads and mums out there that dont pay for there kids,how can they live knowing that!!!!but saying that they prob dont care as the parent looking after them has the worry and stress of it