CSA more nightmares, need help!

[Edlifter]

Hi All,

I have recently left the forces after serving 24 years service. I have been paying maintenance straight to my ex for the up keep of my estranged daughter. She is 16 now and I have been told she may be attending college!!!

 

Now I receive a small monthly pension and I plan to go self employed. With my pension I plan to use this for rent and bills etc. But according to the CSA could be classed as an income.

 

1. How do I get proof of further Education?

2. Is my monthly Army pension classed as income to which the CSA should be informed about?

3. Am I better off with a maintenance charge or should I go for the CSA charge.

4. What does being self employed mean to the CSA?

 

Is there anyone out there in the same big bucket or can give me advice on this????

[jdes26]

Ok

1. If your studying and u are not earning u pay zero

2. Self employed means you have control

Of your earnings- it's recommended that everyone should be self employed as no deduction of earnings can take place on your wages

3. Regarding your pension I think it's fair to say the CSA will try to take dome of this especially if it's over £200 a week

Personally I would try to avoid the CSA

I would give your ex an ultimatum pay direct her or the CSA get zero

It's as simple as that!!!

[Edlifter]

Hi all, Thank you, you have gave me a lot to consider. I think I may have given you the incorrect info on question 1. It is my daughter that may or may not be going onto further education. I have heard that she is. However surely this needs to be proven or ex's all over can get an extra 2 years from there victims ooops I mean Non resident parent without providing proof further education. It can't be just a case of her saying she is off to college???

 

so recommendations . I get a good accountant......

 

many thanks

[jdes26]

Yep correct wording victims!

[afcwben]

Hi all, Thank you, you have gave me a lot to consider. I think I may have given you the incorrect info on question 1. It is my daughter that may or may not be going onto further education. I have heard that she is. However surely this needs to be proven or ex's all over can get an extra 2 years from there victims ooops I mean Non resident parent without providing proof further education. It can't be just a case of her saying she is off to college???

 

so recommendations . I get a good accountant......

 

many thanks

 

Even if she is not attending college the CSA will still class her as in education until she starts claiming unemploymenr up to the age of 19.I spoke to the CSA about this and asked what their definition of full time education is and they said it is pretty loose, so loose that attending school or college is not a requirement to be classed as being in full time education

[jdes26]

16

Is my cut off point after that it's game over!!!

[Stressedandfedup]

if the Qulaifying child is attending 'Futher education' they will still be 'qualified'. if they attend 'Higher education' ie uni, then they will not be.

If the QC is staying on at school/going to 6th form, then the CSA can request data from Child Benefit Agency as the CBA will send a letter to the PWC to request evidence of her eligibility to still receive ChB. th QC can do things like an apprenticship and similar as long as it will be 'Further' ie nvq's a'levels, and still be a QC.

if she starts uni, then the QC will become ex-QC. Bear in mind that that start of the academic year in in sept. so even when she finishes school/college she will still be classed as QC until Sept. If the QC stays in FE for longer, then the absolute cut-off is the 19th b'day whatever they are doing. Also if QC claims JSA or the like then she will no longer be a QC.

Basically when your daughter reaches the time when she's finishing school, ring the CSA at the start of that September and request that her QC status is investigated. The case probably won't get flagged up to check so you will need to be proactive.

Has your ex actually made a claim to the CSA? If not ask her if she's happy to continue the payments you are making directly (you can decide on the amount between yourselves as your not getting a wage as such). If she's dubious, say you can bith use the private agreement forms on the CM options website (they also have the basic calculator you can use which is the same as the basic calculator on the CSA website) and point out that bank to bank payment is faster than CSA .'. your daughter will benefit from not having any delays.

If she agrees, then I strongly advise you to do so by S/O and as the reference (that will show on your statements) but 'CM for [child's name]'. Then if she were to get sh#tty then you have proof of direct payments.

When you go S/E and if you have an agreement with the ex, then she will most likely expect you to increase the amount you pay. Again use the basic calculator as a guide. Point out that If she goes via CSA there will be bigger delays in payment as they will take an age to assess you, and in the meantime you won't be paying anything direct. You never know she might be happy to just get a regular amount every month.

Just to let you know, if you end up with a case via CSA and you go S/E and you don't declare your true earnings, AND IF your ex knows it and dobs you in (or anyone else for that matter), then you will be thrown into the deepend as they will use the S/E experts thats on loan from the Inland Revenue to estimate your true earnings. Or find evidence and you could end up in court over it and be re-assessed etc. So be honest from the start or be very savvy with accounts lol!

Re your pension, if its taxable it's useable for assessment. And if you have a CSA up and running, you do have to declare this. If you don't and they find out later (easily done by writing to the paymaster) you could face legal action against you. Do you really want that rubbish? Prob not!

Hope all this text helps!

[Edlifter]

Hi Thank stressed,

Here goes, so you know a thing or two about it.

My daughter will be 17 in November. I have been giving her mother £200 a month for over 15 years as a maintenance charge standing order. I do plan to go self employed very soon which I believe to be in my benefit???

I get a small monthly military pension, so I took this sum after taking off NI, My children who live with me, pension scheme and used the calculator. It dropped to £17 a week or £68 a month. This may reduce their ability to travel abroad 3 times a year and pay for the £300,000 mortgage while I rent!!!

I have lowered the payments to match this and I await the Dragons fury:mad2: Due to her last conversation she and my daughter requested nil contact. So they have it.

My pension that I receive is a standard payment. However, what I earn from the business will change on a weekly/monthly basis.

She may think she is going to get some of this. do you have any recommendation to prevent this or curtail it slightly in my favour???

 

So she gets her monthly installment of £68, then in September If she cant prove to me further education, then stop it? if she then wants to go to CSA after that then it's up to her?? but she will have to prove to the CSA of further Education and they will have to put a case on me which will take sweet time.

 

Sorry if I have repeated myself but I really need to make sure of all this. Thanks All

[Stressedandfedup]

Hi Thank stressed,

Here goes, so you know a thing or two about it.

My daughter will be 17 in November. I have been giving her mother £200 a month for over 15 years as a maintenance charge standing order. I do plan to go self employed very soon which I believe to be in my benefit??? If becoming S/E is your preferred choice it's really all down to personal choice. As you don't have a CSA case your ex will have to accept that the amount yiou are currently paying is going to go down. In fact the CSA law would back you up on that. Believe it or not the CSA believe that the assessment must be fair and not to please the PWC. That's a silly notion anyway. What I'd start with is a new self-calculation for while you are only receiving your pension and then after 3months of being S/E you will have a basic idea of how much you may on average be earning. The CSA would use the 3months to calculate. (after revceiving accounts/tax return type things). Obviously your S/E income may fluctuate but the aim shoud be to arrange a regualar amount being paid regularly.

I get a small monthly military pension, so I took this sum after taking off NI, My children who live with me, pension scheme and used the calculator. It dropped to £17 a week or £68 a month. This may reduce their ability to travel abroad 3 times a year and pay for the £300,000 mortgage while I rent!!! I'm not sure how you pay towards a pension, FROM a pension. I have a feeling that the law allows you a percentage of your pension contributions. When you become S/E I would make this official i.e. pay into a pension plan. This is mainly in case the PWC decides she wants to be difficult.

I have lowered the payments to match this and I await the Dragons fury:mad2: Due to her last conversation she and my daughter requested nil contact. So they have it. In my experience she should be grateful that you know you have a responsibility to financially maintain your daughter. If they don't want contact that's up to them.

Don't be too hard on your daughter though as she's probably been told all sorts of things. (Last bit my personal opinion as I have good male friends who chose, unfortunately, horrible women and they don't get to see their kids and have heard on a recording what the ex has said and you can tell that what the kids say is put in their mouths.)

My pension that I receive is a standard payment. However, what I earn from the business will change on a weekly/monthly basis. As I said above, the idea is to make regular payments at a regular amount (as if you WERE via the CSA). She can't really argue with that.

She may think she is going to get some of this. do you have any recommendation to prevent this or curtail it slightly in my favour???

Basically if you paid via the CSA then she could ring every week for a new assessment and the CSA will politely decline saying no they won't. It's a waste of time for a start because they would need to do an average over a few months. I know when an NRP is PAYE, its either 2months wage slips (if paid monthly) or 5weeks. I'm sure it's 3months of accounts for S/E but I admit that it may be the same as PAYE. Either way the CSA would advise. If your income ends up fluctuating you should settle on a set amount so it'll show you have averaged the up and the down in your income. She can't expect anymore than that. If after 6 months you find you earn on average a decent mount more you may increase the amount you pay, depending of course the qualifying status of your daughter. If you find you only have a difference up or down then you stay the same as before. If PWC wanted to dispute this (she could go to court instead of CSA if she wanted to spend money) but if your following basic CSA rules then the judge would go in your favor. Chance are she won't as time will soon run out.

So she gets her monthly installment of £68, then in September If she cant prove to me further education, then stop it? if she then wants to go to CSA after that then it's up to her?? but she will have to prove to the CSA of further Education and they will have to put a case on me which will take sweet time. I would write a formal letter to her (then photocopy it after it's signed and dated) informing 'that you have a change in your circs and that your income has gone down .'. using the basic calculator on [Options/CSA site] I will be paying £xx/m which will be effective from [date of your next due S/O to her]-[you can just update your current one. Also make sure the entry on your statement will show 'CM for xx'] to be continued till such a time my circs may change significantly to warrant a revision'

Then when you have an idea of what your earning when S/E you can send a new formal letter with the new amount.

Towards early-mid November (enuf time to allow a decent official time for a response) write a letter to her requesting proof that QC is still in Further Education. Say that if you don't receive proof by 30th November (be aware that gaining this info can take time as most likely PWC will have to get a letter form the college/course provider plus by then the QC will have either stayed or decided not to.) Say that if you don't receive proof that QC remains, by definition in the CSA Act, qualified then you will cease payments. Evidence the QC remains qualified is if she were to send you the copy of the new letter from Child Benefit. But as this contains her personal info so unlikely to send it to you. However she may get an official letter from somewhere. If you don't hear back then cancel your S/O.

If she then decides to go to the CSA well she'll have to prove QC status, and wait while they gather your income details and assess you. If she does this while you're still paying her she may find (and you might wanna point this out) that the assessment is lower than your direct amount. Once the CSA contact you the clock starts ticking (i.e. when the assessment will be backdated to) so in that case (as they can't advise you what you should pay) pay a S/O to the CSA at a nominal rate. Then when they've assessed you and they tell you the backdated amount is £xx it'll be lower than if you didn't pay anything and you may find it's not much at all .;. PWC wouldn't be able to get a chunk of money. You are fully entitled to ask the CSA to investigate the QC's status if you hear of any change which may affect it i.e. if you hear she's dropped out of college/moved out etc.

You can do this at strategic points in the acedemic year where kids are more likely to quit college etc. But don't call every week/month lol!!

At the very least you know that her status will cease absolutely from her 19th b'day in 2014.

Sorry if I have repeated myself but I really need to make sure of all this. Thanks All

If you go by the basic rules then you can't really go wrong. Let us know how you go!

[Conniff]

This thread has been moved to the new Armed Forces section

 

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