Please help answer these questions I have

[Catflap1]

I'm 19 weeks pregnant and single, I not sure yet what involvement baby's dad will have but at the moment with how things are I'm guessing none!

I intend to notify him when baby is born but will leave the rest up to him but would apprise help on on following questions!

1. if child is given my surname and ex is not named on birth cert can I still apply for maintence?
   
   
2. are CSA still taking on new case
   
   
3. he has a child he pays for currently and always has done but the arrangement is trough a court not CSA and is just a set figure not actually a % of his wAges, how would it work for me and maintenace?
   
   
4. would it bet better for me to go through counts for maintenace rather than CSA?

[Glitterpig]

1. Yes apply for maintenance whether he is on the BC or not
   

1. As I understand it CSA is no longer around, but you go through CMOPTIONS for info on maintenance. You can either come to an agreement with the father as to the amount, or go through ( I think) a government body to retrieve the statutory amount from his wage. There will be costs for this now, or later on 2014.
   

1. On CMOPTIONS there's a calculator. Just put the info in I think. here
   

1. Shouldn't be necessary to go to court I don't think?
   

Hope you are ok and good luck with your wonderful pregnancy x

[Malificentmaud]

All of the below and also I agree, no need to go to court. Cmoptions calculator will give you the answers if you know his income.

The other child will only be taken in to account if it lived with your baby's dad. Which if he pays CM for it, I doubt.

[nomoretether]

That's not correct, Maud. Maintenance for other children, including family based arrangements and court ordered maintenance is taken into account when it's calculated by CMS.

The father will be able to put himself on the BC via the courts if he wants to, just so you're aware.

I don't think you can go to court for maintenance unless there is an unusual circumstance like he earns more than £3000 a week or the child is disabled and so the usual amounts would be significantly insufficient.

[Catflap1]

Thanks got advice reason I was asking about the court thing was because his previous arrangement was set up during the divorce, over last 8 years they have been back and forward because for the first for years he was paying £980 a month, this then dropped to 530 then 300 as he had been oaying way over the odds for years, sadly for his ex last time they went to court was when his business was not doing well and they ruled he has to pay 180 a month and have not asked him to go back for review!

I was just unsure how this all works if I went through say the CSA, if I understand it correctly whatever he has to pay would be dplit between the two of us, feel bad for his ex wife if she is going to be losing out again agter her money dropping so drastically over the years

[Malificentmaud]

Tether there is no area on the calculator that asks about maintenance paid. It asks if the NRP has any other children living with them, that is all.

[nomoretether]

Yeah, it's not the most accurate calculator. There's a PDF file on their website that explains it all in more detail :)

[Suzanne73]

Going through this myself. Ex pays for other child through csa. I phoned cmoptions. To open my claim. Csa closed account for his other child and now cmoptions will assess both. There is 2 ways to be paid. Either direct from nrp with it calculated by cmoptions or paid via cmoptions for which there will be a charge from June for the collect and pay service. 20% on top of nrp payments and 4% to receive it. I am not sure on how this will affect court order though