Reducing your child support payments
As promised, here are some tips for reducing your child support payments (UK specific). I won’t get into the whole moral issue of whether this is the right thing to do, that’s your choice. For me personally, I would rather have the extra cash and be able to spend it on my kids myself, than support my kid’s mothers and in the one case, her other to new kids (for a married man).
Anyway…
1. Pay more on your mortgage – On the old CSA assessment method, your living expenses will be taken into consideration before maintenance is calculated. This only applies to you if you are on the old assessment system.
2. Keep them overnight as much as possible – If you regularly spent time with your kids say Friday to Sunday, then those two nights should be deducted from your maintenance. Add any additional days you take them away. Two weeks in the sun during the summer, when they stop over during the christmas break. You should be compensated for this so if it works out to 2 nights a week on average, this will net you 2/7th reduction in your maintenance.
3. Take into account travel expenses – If it costs you more than £10 a week to keep in contact with your child, then this can be taken into account. This could include phone bills, or travel expenses to go and visit or have them visit you.
4. Pay yourself in dividends – if you own your own business. It is perfectly legal to decrease your actual salary to a bare minumum of say £5000 and pay yourself if dividends. Earnings derived from shareholdings are not normally taken into account for your assessment and you have no obligation to inform the CSA about them. The CSA don’t normally count dividends paid to a director of a Ltd company, unless the mother asks them to.
5. Don’t brag to your ex-partner – if she thinks you are earning more money she may query this with the CSA, who may come looking and try to assess you based on their perception of your current lifestyle, and look more closely at your finances.
6. Come to an agreement – if she is not a total bi*ch and you can actually come to an arrangement then the best bet would be to agree on an amount between yourselves that is obviously lower than what you would have to pay normally. If this is the case, keep a record of all payments made.
Good advice. Especially about the dividends.
Thanks
Is this actually legal? I mean the dividends bit. I have just been made redundant and am planning on going it alone. I haven’t yet decided on whether to set up as a sole trader or limited company though. (I’m a plumber)
The mother of my children though goes on 2 holidays a year (without the kids) and has a better house than me… I just don’t feel that it’s right when I’m struggling to make ends meet.
Hi, my partner was on the old scheme, but set up a private agreement with his ex for his `12 year old daughter which he handed to her every week has they had stopped mates. Anyway i found out i was pregnant with our baby girl and has not decided to go through the csa .. i cud understand but the end of the day they have been split up 11 years so hardly rubbing her nose in it!!
Anyway she has told them that he hasnt paid know money in that time and obviously cant prove it and they are demanding an extra £280 a month!!!.. we are totally skint..how come it costs £600 a month in total to bring up a 12 year old yet i recieve £168 to bring up a 14 week old baby!!!
I would recommend that you contact Child Support Solutions who can help mediate with the CSA to resolve any problems with the CSA. They can be contacted on 08456 588683.
Best of Luck and I hope that you remember your predicament if the shoe is ever on the other foot.
My partner of 14 years has two children age 18 and 15, he paid her through the CSA for the first 5 years before before being put on short time at work and his CSA assessment going to nil. He then made a private arrangement with her and has paid her directly for the past 10 years. Due to some recent friction arising as he was not prepared to lie by saying his oldest child lived with us to presumably cheat the student loan system as her and her husband have very well paid jobs. She has now used her ultimate weapon of re-involving the CSA and a change of circumstance letter arrived from them today. It seems so unfair that we are now going to have to pay a lot more to her just because we stood up to her for a change. Also it appears that we are on the old system of calculating maintenance…why is that and will it be worse for us?? Why is it that two identical cases could end up paying different maintenance because the calculations are made from different schemes?? Will we have to pay arrears even though we can prove we have paid every month, just maybe not as much as they’re now probably going to say???? So many questions….help!!!! I hate the CSA. It has been the bain of our lives for all these years, we just seem to be easy targets.
CSA Do take into account the dividends.
There are plenty of parents, both resident and non resident that find themselves in awful situations due to the CSA / CMEC – Sadly, it is apparent that qualifying children / relevant other children are NOT always top priority.
A http://www.afairercsaforall.co.uk , is a web based advisory group, its run by parents for parents. We offer FREE help, advice and support to ALL parents having problems – join us in the forum.
Hi
I am currently paying Child Support for two children (17 & 18) apparently both are in full time education. I have been informed from sources that the eldest child is pregnant therefore should I be paying maintenance for her as should she be conidered as a child under her present condition??
Hi,
I am currently paying £900 pound a month to the CSA, £ 500 is arrears charges
from when i was notified 2 1/2 years ago but did not pay.
I met this girl 15 years ago when i was 19 and she was 25, to cut along story short
we split up and being young and nieve as i was kept going back when i was drunk
and she claimed she was pregenant.Alot was said and I was dounbtful it was mine as she had guys round and ex’s. 25 years later i get a letter to pay £12,000 back pay
I have not seen her since we broke up and had not seen her during her pregnancy.
The csa last year Started taking money at source to the tune or £1200 a month at first which crippled me and my fiance who is pregnant did not take it too well.
And then when i refused to pay any more as i couldnt the threatened to take me to court and charge me with the cost. so i had to pay them £4000 off a credit card to stop this.
It’s been an absolute nightmare. i did a DNA test which proved positive.
With me not ever seeing my daughter i cant make a judgement if she is mine.
But anyways whats bugging me after all these years, why now?
My ex has a different surname and so does my daughter .
Is there a way i can contest this or get the payment reduced because i cant afford this huge payment every month, i just feel robbed as i have not even seen my daughter or know where she lives or anything!!!!!
The sensitive case team at the csa wont give me any details.
Can anyone advise me?
My soon to be exwife’s new man (one of many she was seeing before we split) is poised to move into the house im paying for.
His house is currently on the market for £565,000.000. yet she is chasing me for a cut of a compensation claim for a permanent injury i recieved a few years ago that will be less than 10K.
Both my kids want to live with me, and ask every time i pick them up, as the mother has not one maternal bone in her body and unsuprisingly wants to hang on to them and claim benefits.
At what age can my kids say ’screw you mum, were off to dad’s and aint never coming back’. which incidently, is a day i look forward to.
Ian… I would get legal advice and go for full or at least joint custody.
Hi
If your ex is not spending the money you give on your kids, here are some of the ways you can reduce csa deductions:
1. If you are a self-employed, incorporate your business into a limited company, charge the company a goodwill and draw it out as and when you need it. Also sell the assets to the company. Consider Capital gains implications before doing that.
2. Pay yourself minimum salary, just above the threshold (current 5720) to count for state pension and take the rest as dividends. It is also more tax efficient.
2. If you have a partner, give her 24% shares in the company so that 24% of the dividends can be paid to her. As you still hold 76% of the shares you are still in charge. If your partner can be trusted in the long run, you can transfer more shares to them. Or even have different classes of shares, give them shares with less voting rights etc.
3. Make generous pension contributions.
4. If you travel for business, use your private car and charge the company for business travel at HMRC approved mileage rates (40p for first 10,000 miles and then 25P per mile). This will cover the cost of motoring and it is tax free to you while tax deductable for the company.
5. If you are not seeing your kids, go overseas and work, there are some contries CSA can’t interfere such as Dubai.
6. Claim maximum (legally allowed) expenses through the company.
7. Keep the funds in the company, aliment is calculated on your income, not on company’s income. Keep the funds in the company as long as possible or invest through the company.
8. Find a way to conver your profits into capital gains, CSA does not take capital gains into account. For example you can sell one business for a capital gain and then set up another one, then sell it again for capital gain.
9. You could take loan from the company and pay interst, but this may be subject to sec 419 tax which is 25%, but the good thig is that when the loan is repaied (kids are over 16 etc) the tax can be reclaimed.
I hope this helps.
Raj
If you are self-employed sacrifice your salary and ask your employer to make pension contributions instead.
Absolutely brilliant advice Raj…. thanks very much
Loving that you all think maintenance payments are for your ex’s…Surprise surprise it’s really for the general up keep of the children that you had together. Ex’s are allowed to work hard and go on holidays or have nice houses…doesn’t mean you should find every way not to pay for your kids!
“would rather have the extra cash and be able to spend it on my kids myself, than support my kid’s mothers and in the one case”,
And what if the father of my child doesn’t want to spend time with his 9 month old son and therefore does not spend it on his kid himself? What can I do to stop him paying himself the lowest wages possible and big dividends?
I am the company secretary, can I do anything?
could some tell me more about ltd
We have recently had a variation against us regarding high pension contributions. The law changes in April 2009 but no amount appears to have been set by the House of Lords does anyone know the answer to the maximum pension contributions
Re: Variation due to high pension contributions
If you are an employee, you can sacrifice some salary and get your employer to make the pension contributions.
How much £ difference would thier be if I were to take out a ‘new pension’ when CSA are taking out an assesment? how would the CSA calculate you net income? No Pension curently & 48yrs old … doh!
Rick,
It depends how much you pay into a pension, the CSA calculate your payments based on your NET income, so gross income minus NI, Tax and pension contributions. You will be better off in the long run paying maximum into a pension but could end up cutting yourself really tight financially so it’s about finding a happy medium.
Also for info to the group i have been told that if i opt into the company car scheme at work i will reduce my payments to the CSA as my tax code will increase therefore taking more tax off me. Obviously my NET income will be lower but i will not be paying for fuel, insurance, wear and tear, repairs, etc so could end up better in the long run. Does anybody else know more about this before i take up the option?
This whole conversation makes me sick! These are your children you are defrauding NOT your ex partners. I gave up my wonderful career as a nurse to be a full time Mum 12 years ago. This was a joint decusion by me and my husband. Not only does he only pay me £10 a week for his 3 daughters but because he is an alcoholic the children wont see him. I am mother and father to my kids and now have to start my career at the bottom to feed them. How is this morally right??
Sara – You want to talk about making people sick? People like you do – you have NO RIGHT morally or logically to ANY of your ex’s money – despite what the government/CSA say. Whilst the current legislation is at odds with basic logic and moral principles, people will always do there best to avoid paying – and I for one will agree with them.
The choice to have a child was never joint between you and your husband. The person who has ultimate choice and therefore ultimate responsibility is the mother. The father cannot “choose” to have the pregnancy terminated for example. You made a bad decision in having children with that man – but thats life. Tough luck. Live with it and make better decisions in the future.
As for starting at the bottom with your career, how the heck is that your ex’s fault. YOU chose to have children. At any point you could have said no – but you did not. That is the consequence of having children (logically).
On the plus side, you do have 3 daughters which i’m sure you love and care for but damn woman, take responsibility for your own actions and stop trying to blame others – it was/is/has always been YOUR choice!
The CSA are claiming my partner has never paid a penny for his son, when he has! He paid £2000 out of our savings and they are claiming they never received this payment in June 08 despite saying at the time they did. He then paid £90 a month which CSA say they never received, then he got made redundant and CSA took £5 a week from his benefits and they are claiming they never received this too.
His son lives over 400 miles away and he pays £60 in fuel to pick him up and another £60 to take him back but the CSA don’t want to know and he does this every half term plus tube fares. He then started working again and the CSA did not take into account the distance from his home to where he worked even though it was over 30 miles every day. They said this only applies to how a ‘crow flies’ BOLLOCKS! Anyway they started taking money out of his wages and this left him with less than £600 to live with a £400 rent to pay.
He rang them up and said he could not live but they didn’t care they said he owed £2000 back money and he said he paid that along with £90 a month for a year until he got made redunant but they said they would send him a statement of what he had paid and nothing was on it! We are now in the process of going through old bank statements to prove payments.
He got made redundant again recently and daren’t work now as he knows he cannot live as the CSA just sting him. When his son visits he more than provides for him but they do not take this into account. We are at a loss over what to do???
Kris – Firstly, it WAS a joint decision to have children in my case and many other womens cases. Under the angle you are coming from maybe each woman should sign a Pre-nup stating that it is a joint decision and that an account should be set up to have monies deposited during the relationship in the event of a split later on?
I can only assume from your response that you either have a bitch of an ex partner or are single. If it was MY choice to have children why is my husbands name on their birth certificates, as if it were not he would have no obligation to pay any maintenance?
I also think that the majority of men in this situation would be horrified by your comments. They take full responsibilty for the creation and emotional and financial support of their kids. Your comments must not only enrage those like me: who has not pursued my ex for money at all as the CSA have done that, but the millions of male ex partners and single Dads who are proud of being a father.
Had the shoe been on the other foot and I had been the one working and building up a career I would happily be giving my ex partner money for MY children. But if you follow your logic, men can just walk away from their kids as it wasnt their fault their partner got pregnant!!! I am not talking about a one night stand, but an 18 year relationship where we BOTH decided to become parents, and in fact with our youngest it was my husband who was more keen than I and made promises he did not keep.
Yes, I should have been more careful in my choice of husband, but even though my ex is a drunk, he contacted the CSA and claimed his income to them, I did not.
I am lucky that I have my 3 daughters, but frankly a sperm donor would have been an easier option. Men like you make me sick. I am sure if you have children, and as you are on this forum I can only assume you do, that they would delighted to see that its not your fault they exist!!! What happend? Trip and fall in a darkened bedroom???
One thing you did say that was correct is that morally I have no right to my Ex’s money…Correct. But HIS children do.
If I have enraged yo because I think it is right that the non resident parent (father or mother) pays some money for the upbringing of their children and am disgusted by people looking for ways to pay less, then tough!
DADS WHO USE THE SYSTEM AND DON’T PAY FOR THEIR KIDS TO SCORE POINTS SHOULD BE ASHAMED. YOUR KIDS YOUR RESPONSIBILTY!! MY EX
DE FRAUDS THE TAX SYSTEM TO GET OUT OF PAYING FOR HIS 3 CHILDREN AND NEVER BUYS THEM A THING. HAS SEVERAL HOLIDAYS A YEAR (WITHOUT HIS KIDS) HAS 3 CARS AND A LARGE PROPErTY IN HALF AN ACRE. HIDES ALL HIS CASH LIKE A DIRTY CRIMINAL! HE HAS PROB HAD HIS RECENT TAX RETURN AND THIS IS NO DOUBT WHY HE IS REDUCING CONTACT WITH THEM ALSO, WAS ONLY HAVING THEM TO KEEP HIS PAYMENTS LOW. POOR KIDS ARE LOSING OUT BIG TIME. NOT ALL US MUMS ARE TRYING TO TAKE YOU FOR EVERY PENNY. KIDS ONLY ONES TO LOSE OUT IN ALL OF THIS, CRYING, WETTING THE BED, MISSING OUT ON TRIPS, TOYS ETC ETC ETC. WE WHERE BARELY MANAGING BEFORE……KIDS ARE EXPENSIVE!
WELL DONE TO THE MANY DADS WHO CARE FOR THEIR KIDS, EXCEPT RESPONSIBILTY AND PAY THEIR WAY..
THE REST OF YOU WANT TO THINK ON ABOUT THE BATTLE ZONE YOU CREATE, DON’T KNOW HOW YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT!!!!!
AS FOR KRIS…KIDS NOT A JOINT DECISION? GOD WHAT A CHARMER!
I can’t believe what im reading here. I was with my partner for 5 and an half years and we both planned our child and when we split up there was no question that he was goin to support his child in every way.
This website is what gives alot of absent fathers a bad name. There are so many fathers who want to support there children and be there, not find a way to get out of the obligation from they lay down with the mother and got pregnant. We can’t do it on our own!!!!!
There are mothers out there that do use the fathers money for themselves and I do not agree with but tarring all mothers with the same brush is disgusting!!
What about the mothers out there who have walked away and left the fathers bringing up the children would you all have a different opinion then!