Child Maintenance- Attachment to earnings
Discussion
My friend is having loads of fun with his ex and her mum.
He has joined a gym and they don't like it"! He takes the kids swimming and out on his weekends and apparently she can't afford to do that.
They are moaning she doesn't have a car etc and moving to her mums house means its extra 1/2 mile walk. She does get lent her grans car some days.
He has taken a local job to get himself out of the sticky tax position he was in earning 50k with a car.
He now earns 42k plus a car and is paying £700 maintenance, plus he pays her bills her totalling £80 per month.
The government calculator shows he should be £680 with his new salary.
He is concerned as his ex and her mum have turned up unannounced at his mums on friday demanding to know his new employer.
The assumption is as his ex mother in law thinks its £1000 a month for 4 children that they may go down the attachment to earnings route. The silly woman won't get advice.
Any advice?
He has joined a gym and they don't like it"! He takes the kids swimming and out on his weekends and apparently she can't afford to do that.
They are moaning she doesn't have a car etc and moving to her mums house means its extra 1/2 mile walk. She does get lent her grans car some days.
He has taken a local job to get himself out of the sticky tax position he was in earning 50k with a car.
He now earns 42k plus a car and is paying £700 maintenance, plus he pays her bills her totalling £80 per month.
The government calculator shows he should be £680 with his new salary.
He is concerned as his ex and her mum have turned up unannounced at his mums on friday demanding to know his new employer.
The assumption is as his ex mother in law thinks its £1000 a month for 4 children that they may go down the attachment to earnings route. The silly woman won't get advice.
Any advice?
Co-operate fully with the CMS folks, as at some point they should do their calculations and come up with a sum of money that they send to both parties. At that stage, if money now > CMS figure, she may either drop the case, or accept a direct payment arrangement. If money now < CMS figure, she's likely to stick with it, in which case he insists on a direct payment arrangement, which (for his sake) HAS TO BE an auditable, traceable payment, i.e. SO or bank transfer. Do not do cash, do not pay bills instead, do not buy shoes etc, do not include school fees.
It is what it is. Tell him to play the long game, and look out for the children.
It is what it is. Tell him to play the long game, and look out for the children.
randlemarcus said:
Co-operate fully with the CMS folks, as at some point they should do their calculations and come up with a sum of money that they send to both parties. At that stage, if money now > CMS figure, she may either drop the case, or accept a direct payment arrangement. If money now < CMS figure, she's likely to stick with it, in which case he insists on a direct payment arrangement, which (for his sake) HAS TO BE an auditable, traceable payment, i.e. SO or bank transfer. Do not do cash, do not pay bills instead, do not buy shoes etc, do not include school fees.
It is what it is. Tell him to play the long game, and look out for the children.
He is i just wondered what the process is if they want to do an attachment of earnings?It is what it is. Tell him to play the long game, and look out for the children.
He pays via bank transfer and gets confirmation tex messages that monies has been received.
The £80 a month is her ipad. iphone, Boardband and landline. These are not deducted from the £700.
He feels a bit awkward as he daughter has outgrown her trainers and wanted to get her some new ones but as he has said he already pays for them!
All about the kids, assume they can't just phone his employer and make waves then has to be done through CMS.
The CMS can only order an attachment of earnings in the event that he isn’t paying what he should - it’s a means of enforcement for non payment, not a default option.
The employers details are none of the ex’s business and he would be mad to disclose these details because they sound like the sorts who will turn up at his workplace and cause a nightmare.
Also any sort of enforced collection incurs fees, meaning he pays quite of lot of extra money to the CMS, and she gets a slight deduction also. It’s in everybody’s interests to act co-operatively.
Let her open a case with the CMS (which will cost ISTR £20 itself) and it will take weeks to get setup. They will go via his tax records at which point he will be able to inform them of his change of salary. The employment details are between him and the CMS, nothing to do with the ex.
He should also keep records of ANY payments / extra bills he covers.
Sounds like a large sum of money to pay on a not astronomical salary. Is this the guy from another recent thread who moved back in with his parents?
The employers details are none of the ex’s business and he would be mad to disclose these details because they sound like the sorts who will turn up at his workplace and cause a nightmare.
Also any sort of enforced collection incurs fees, meaning he pays quite of lot of extra money to the CMS, and she gets a slight deduction also. It’s in everybody’s interests to act co-operatively.
Let her open a case with the CMS (which will cost ISTR £20 itself) and it will take weeks to get setup. They will go via his tax records at which point he will be able to inform them of his change of salary. The employment details are between him and the CMS, nothing to do with the ex.
He should also keep records of ANY payments / extra bills he covers.
Sounds like a large sum of money to pay on a not astronomical salary. Is this the guy from another recent thread who moved back in with his parents?
Edited by theboss on Monday 18th March 13:01
It’s anazing what some women will do. My brother paid well over what he should have done. Cash in hand every week. No CSA or whatever there called nowadays.
The company changed ownership a hat change effectively. But they messed his pay up on the first payrun so he went and saw the mother and explained what had happened. He couldn’t pay the full amount for the next 4 weeks but would make it up as soon as he was paid.
Silly bint went ballistic. Got the CSA involved. During her complaint mentioned he was paying x amount. Really well have you been declaring that to the benefits agency. Oh no you haven’t.
He ended up paying less and she ended up in s
t with the benefits people.
My brother just kept the difference and gave it to his daughter when she was older and could spend it herself.
He’s currently paying all her uni fees, accommodation the lot. She doesn’t contribute at all.
The company changed ownership a hat change effectively. But they messed his pay up on the first payrun so he went and saw the mother and explained what had happened. He couldn’t pay the full amount for the next 4 weeks but would make it up as soon as he was paid.
Silly bint went ballistic. Got the CSA involved. During her complaint mentioned he was paying x amount. Really well have you been declaring that to the benefits agency. Oh no you haven’t.
He ended up paying less and she ended up in s
t with the benefits people. My brother just kept the difference and gave it to his daughter when she was older and could spend it herself.
He’s currently paying all her uni fees, accommodation the lot. She doesn’t contribute at all.
surveyor_101 said:
He is i just wondered what the process is if they want to do an attachment of earnings?
He pays via bank transfer and gets confirmation tex messages that monies has been received.
The £80 a month is her ipad. iphone, Boardband and landline. These are not deducted from the £700.
He feels a bit awkward as he daughter has outgrown her trainers and wanted to get her some new ones but as he has said he already pays for them!
All about the kids, assume they can't just phone his employer and make waves then has to be done through CMS.
If it really is all about the kids then why does he not just go out and buy the trainers? If he is saying that 'he already pays for them' then he is not really thinking about the kids is he, he is just trying to score points against his ex. This is going downhill fast I imagine. Is £780 a month a lot of money for a bit of housekeeping for the ex and a child or two? He pays via bank transfer and gets confirmation tex messages that monies has been received.
The £80 a month is her ipad. iphone, Boardband and landline. These are not deducted from the £700.
He feels a bit awkward as he daughter has outgrown her trainers and wanted to get her some new ones but as he has said he already pays for them!
All about the kids, assume they can't just phone his employer and make waves then has to be done through CMS.
Johnniem said:
If it really is all about the kids then why does he not just go out and buy the trainers? If he is saying that 'he already pays for them' then he is not really thinking about the kids is he, he is just trying to score points against his ex. This is going downhill fast I imagine. Is £780 a month a lot of money for a bit of housekeeping for the ex and a child or two?
This. Just buy the trainers and deduct it from what he’s paying if necessary. Less to this thread than meets the eye, I shouldn’t wonder......
MB140 said:
He ended up paying less and she ended up in st with the benefits people.
Benefits are not affected by Child maintenance payments. The Maintenance is not taken into consideration...... unless things have changed with universal credit. My ex-misses was creaming tax credits in and getting a big maintenance contribution each month. We calculated she was on close too £2k a month. t with the benefits people. super7 said:
MB140 said:
He ended up paying less and she ended up in st with the benefits people.
Benefits are not affected by Child maintenance payments. The Maintenance is not taken into consideration...... unless things have changed with universal credit. My ex-misses was creaming tax credits in and getting a big maintenance contribution each month. We calculated she was on close too £2k a month. t with the benefits people. 
Johnniem said:
If it really is all about the kids then why does he not just go out and buy the trainers? If he is saying that 'he already pays for them' then he is not really thinking about the kids is he, he is just trying to score points against his ex. This is going downhill fast I imagine. Is £780 a month a lot of money for a bit of housekeeping for the ex and a child or two?
He is paying for them though, he is paying for food clothes and to help towards living costs - should he give his ex 1k a month and then on top of that buy new clothes as they are needed? Be realistic here.George Smiley said:
Johnniem said:
If it really is all about the kids then why does he not just go out and buy the trainers? If he is saying that 'he already pays for them' then he is not really thinking about the kids is he, he is just trying to score points against his ex. This is going downhill fast I imagine. Is £780 a month a lot of money for a bit of housekeeping for the ex and a child or two?
He is paying for them though, he is paying for food clothes and to help towards living costs - should he give his ex 1k a month and then on top of that buy new clothes as they are needed? Be realistic here.Now, if the mother is getting maintenance and is still not buying the kids clothes, leaving the Dad to buy them on top of the maintenance, that's another issue! That's when you need to have words.....
super7 said:
If your contracting you only technically have to declare the £8k a year your paying yourself. Doesn't include Dividends etc :-)
Indeed, until the ex applies for a variation taking non-earned income into account, the CMS confirms dividend income from your SA returns and then back-dates the claim taking this additional income into account.super7 said:
Benefits are not affected by Child maintenance payments. The Maintenance is not taken into consideration...... unless things have changed with universal credit. My ex-misses was creaming tax credits in and getting a big maintenance contribution each month. We calculated she was on close too £2k a month.
This has been the case since about 2010-2011 - before that an increasing maintenance award would reduce benefits entitlement.Difficult one.
The former rules rewarded feckless dads who wouldn’t pay, as the state would essentially plug the gap and the mother’s financial situation remained effectively indifferent.
Now it’s swung the other way and there’s an incentive to go for max benefits + maintenance and end up with quite an enviable income for sitting at home. This doesn’t help foster any sense of independence or self-sufficiency.
My ex gets the net equivalent of £56k salary in benefits and maintenance combined. And I pay for extra stuff on top (I have share of their care and take them shopping etc).
Piersman2 said:
Mine was the same, it worked out that with all the above, and a part time job, that she was raking in what equated to about a £50K salary.
He has done the maths and apart from her debts around £12k she should be laughing.His mum is a pensioner and was ambushed in her dressing gown! She gave his employment details but should couldn't remember the salary, they know company name and his based location.
She gets.............
£700 from him
£700 from part time a week NHS job- Although she started calling in sick due to stress apparently as this is why her and mother turned up and his mums.
Turns out they owe just £1000 he and I knew that and I know she was aware but she had played dumb to her mum for tax credits from 2 years ago! Thats affected her benefits even though he has been making payment against it for 3 months.
She has used her daughters ipad to delete his icloud photos all of ones her from his photo stream! Most of his holiday photos have gone.
The benefits calculator for universal credit worked out to £342 my mate reckons with the 1400 a month declared.
so thats over £2800 take home more so like a 50k salary anyway but she is low on money at the moment and can't afford to take the girls. So much for universal credit being bad!!!
Of course she got that plus her 700 plus 244 child benefit before.
She has a 2k bill for the rest of the holiday payment for end of march that her and her mum are going on!
Edited by surveyor_101 on Monday 18th March 16:23
Edited by surveyor_101 on Monday 18th March 16:24
surveyor_101 said:
Piersman2 said:
Mine was the same, it worked out that with all the above, and a part time job, that she was raking in what equated to about a £50K salary.
He has done the maths and apart from her debts around £12k she should be laughing.His mum is a pensioner and was ambushed in her dressing gown! She gave his employment details but should couldn't remember the salary, they know company name and his based location.
She gets.............
£700 from him
£700 from part time a week NHS job- Although she started calling in sick due to stress apparently as this is why her and mother turned up and his mums.
Turns out they owe just £1000 he and I knew that and I know she was aware but she had played dumb to her mum for tax credits from 2 years ago! Thats affected her benefits even though he has been making payment against it for 3 months.
She has used her daughters ipad to delete his icloud photos all of ones her from his photo stream! Most of his holiday photos have gone.
The benefits calculator for universal credit worked out to £342 my mate reckons with the 1400 a month declared.
so thats over £2800 take home more so like a 50k salary anyway but she is low on money at the moment and can't afford to take the girls. So much for universal credit being bad!!!
Of course she got that plus her 700 plus 244 child benefit before.
Edited by surveyor_101 on Monday 18th March 16:23
t load of stuff from the AppStore to cost him more money. I would be getting all of my passwords changed for everything. It’s quite easy to go in to the settings and get every single web password off an iPad if she knows the iCloud password.
theboss said:
super7 said:
If your contracting you only technically have to declare the £8k a year your paying yourself. Doesn't include Dividends etc :-)
Indeed, until the ex applies for a variation taking non-earned income into account, the CMS confirms dividend income from your SA returns and then back-dates the claim taking this additional income into account.Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff