To think we shouldnt have to pay this (csa)

[doesthisseemright]

Dsd is 2 now going to be living with us 5 nights and at her mum's 2 nights a week. Previously it was the other way and we paid full csa requirements as we were not the RP.

She is doing this as she will be going to college this year and its closer to us. it will be like this for the whole year as she also does some work close to us, so no change on holidays.

Now she will live here in the week but they want to still call her mother's her residence.

I checked the csa calculator and it says that we would still have to pay a certain sum each week.

Now I dont understand why, given the mum never had to pay us for the 2 days when it was the reverse.

You need to fight this. No way should you be paying for what will be the best part of 2 years when she's living with you

That's £6,000!

You could delete and start again?!

I feel like a bloody eejit....2! (embarrased)

I think I have the jist of it though....its all down to the rp address and I get it now that its calculated on /7's and the original was calculated on that too.

Yes. But if you take over as RP then you have to make sure that the daughter (who is 17 - yes?!!) gets any college bursary due to her, and these will be means-tested and administered by the colleges from now on, so if she doesn't qualify on your joint income (yours and your P's) then you will have to consider supporting her through it.

Swings and roundabouts.

She would have only been eligible for £20 a week bursary so it should be ok :)

Mind you it would be nice for her to get that :)

When ss came to live with us at 15, we thougt it was only fair that his mum paid us some money and the cb can to us, as the situation had been flipped, in the end we just decided that no momey would change hands again, we were all pretty much in the same financial situation, so it sort of made sense. every one was happy with that arrangement

Just make sure she doesn't lose out by dint of address! Dare I ask what she thinks?

I think she just calls that her address given she has been there a year or so (they did move from her original house and had to change everything then). I will ask her dad to see what she thinks.

I think a family talk and a "pros and cons" list might be best.

I would do that; and like griphook says above, you need an arrangement that seems to make sense and makes everyone feel reasonably ok. It also need to be flexible enough to swap back if necessary.

I hope she enjpys college!

I hope so too. I took her up there today to speak to advisors and it all sounds good :)

The way the system works is that there is a parent with care and a non resident parent. The parent with care is the parent to whom child benefit is paid.

The adjustments for shared care can only go as far as equal care, so 50%. If the child stays more than 50% of the time with the non resident parent but they do not apply for the child benefit to be paid to them they stay as the non resident parent. If they do apply for the child benefit then they become the parent with care.

So 50% is the most you can get a reduction on the maintenance on as the non resident parent but if it is 50% shared care then there is also an abatement taken off the maintenance calculation of £7 per child per week to account for the fact the child benefit is paid to the parent with care.

In your case, I would suggest that he speaks to his ex and explain that as DSD is now living with you that he will be applying for the child benefit & would then be able to make an application to the CSA against her as the non-resident parent. I suspect she will not want this so would then probably agree to cancel the case so she could keep the child benefit.

I can see why she wants to keep as rp. There would be a loss of nearly £350 per month. (untaxed as we pay privately)

What rulesandreg says - as the child is living with you, you are entitled to claim Child Benefit. HMR&C would then contact the current recipient of the Child Benefit to check that the child has moved. I don't know how much investigating and checking of claims that they do in case of dispute.

Once Child Benefit is transferred to you, you would then be entitled to claim CSA from the mother.

This would likely be the thermonuclear option in terms of relations between the parents though. I'd be tempted to try to negotiate a realistic compromise and only go for claiming Child Benefit if there is negotiations break down.