CSA Will i have to pay ?

Hi everyone,i had a call from the C S A on Friday stating that my ex has applied for child support from me.I was shocked as the situation is that nothing was applied for on the consent order at the time of our divorce,that was back in May last year so this is a bolt out of the blue.I have 2 children one is a 16 year old boy who is disabled and has a 52 week placement in a residential care home/school that is funded by the state,so he lives there all the time and not with me or my ex wife.The other child is a 18 year old girl (19 in August)who is at college,gets the ema allowance £30 per week and works evenings and weekends at a resturant,i have paid for her car,insurance and driving lessons until she passed.
My ex bought me out of our matrimonial home,i accepted £35,000 less that i should have,she also works earns more than me £21,000 and gets D.L.A plus various other benifits.

There is a duty to pay child support. You could have made provision for this in your financial settlement which may have effected, in your favour, the terms.

To put a positive spin on the situation, you have not had to pay child support for nearly a year.

Charles

Also if you look into it Child maintenance only runs until the child is 19 and in full time education.
It is also affected by the number of days the child is resident with the parent.

You would be expected to pay 15% for your daughter until she is 19 in august - calcualted from the date their mother applied.

It is unleikely you would have to pay for your son as you say his care is state funded - does this include all expenses - otherwise I would expect these to be split between you and their mother.

So would that be the case even though my daughter works earning her own money and spends time staying at her boyfriends at weekends?

Cavalino

Yes of course you are responsible for supporting your daughter whilst she is at school. Her part time wages will be spent on petrol, make up and socialising. She may even buy her own clothes but who do you think pays for the electricity and gas she uses when she is at home, for the copious amounts of water used by teenage girls in showering and washing their hair? Who buys her shower gel and shampoo, the washing powder to do her laundry, her food when she is at home? I could list the expenses of raising a teenage girl ad infinitum.

The bottom line is currently everything is paid by Mum. Mum's earnings do not increase her responsibility for the children and decrease yours. You are your daughter's parent too and you are just as responsible for her well-being and upkeep as her mother is.

As an aside if your daughter goes to Uni she can claim maintenance directly from you.

sounds like you were having a rant at me.my divorce was very bitter to the point my ex,s brother is now in prison 4 voilent assault.daughter wont see me ,ex tring every thing she can to ruin my life.i will fight her tooth and nail.

Taking the emotion away - bitter divorce or otherwise.

You have a legal obligation to pay until your daughter is 19. I do not know about maintenance when at university.

It makes no difference whether you have contact with your daughter or how other people have behaved.

The facts are: the Csa will assess you at 15% of your earnings for 1 child and 20% for 2.

If you choose not to pay they will take legal proceedings against you. This can ultimately mean a criminal record.

You will not be dealing with your ex but with a third party so "fighting her tooth and nail" is not the reality.

The only way the csa stops is if your x stops it - and from what your brief post says that is unlikely.

I am not asking you to rolloverbut to bite the bullet and not make it harder for yourself

X