csa/maintenance amount please help.

Hi please help if possible.

does this seem right, i have 3 children to my ex husband, he decided in sept to up and leave, didnt want family life anymore!

after looking in to maintenance amounts etc he said rather than the 25% he would like to give 30% net income per month as in 10% for each child, he does earn a decent wage each month.

After he left in sept, i had suspisions that his cousins child was his, 9 months older than my eldest, anyway gut feeling was right and a dna test has proved that.

He has now turned in to the doting dad for his cousins child and has deserted his 3 boys and gone back on all proposals.

so his proposals of 30% has now been confirmed in a solicitors letter to be less than 25% as he now has another maintenance to pay so what was 30 is looking at 18%.

do you think that this is right, im pleased he is taking responsibility for his other child, but i am now in a position of having to move out the area as i cant afford to rent and top up without the maintenance payments i was going to use.

sorry for the ramble, just now having to look around for a new home, possibly schools and he is in a fantastic financial position!!! blood boils

is he self employed? If he is, I would suggest you take whatever he gives and run because if he decides he doesn't want to pay, he won't and there will be very little that can be done about it.

However, if he earns on a PAYE basis, you might be better off going to the CSA. There is a calculator on their website which will give you an idea of what to expect - and whether or not it's worth the hassle ('cos they are a hassle) of involving the CSA.

Hi no he is employed and not self employed, i dont really want to involve csa ( not sure why, gut feeling really)
Just he has moved the goal posts on many an occasion now, im in an awful position living in a house ( his name only, which he is making us sell) so having to claim benefits, first time in my life im 40, got a 7 year old and twins of 2 !!! so every penny counts, just so annoyed that any reason he will shirk his responsibilities!!
ps thanks for the reply

go to the CSA - I didn't find it a hassle and at least you know the MINIMUM you will get and can budget. If he wants to pay on top on a voluntary basis - great, but at least you will have a figure to work with.

Thank you, thats what im struggling with as i need a budget to work with, 25% of his net income was fine to work out. But now he is using this family members child as an excuse to pay his boys less its very low in my eyes.
His wages have suddenly gone up by £1000 per 4 weeks, which seems very odd as no promotion etc, just it all seems very odd to me!

ps, he gets pay rises a few times a year do the csa take this in to account, as in how often to they have a review?

I don't think there is any point going to the CSA in this particular case as the outcome will be similar to what is on offer.

Under the current scheme when the NRP is liable to pay child support for two families he/she will pay 25% for a total of 3+ children. That amount is then divided by the number of children and apportioned according to the number of children in each family.

In this case that would be 25% divided by 4 (6.25%) per child so you should receive 18.75% (6.25x3)and the mother of the other child should receive the remaining 6.25%.