help and advice

[FondantFancie]

My husband thinks he is entitled to half my child tax credits. We have three children together which we share contact exactly half and half. we have been separated for 3 years now. I have just recently had a new baby so am not working and just claiming the benefits I am entitled to. He is a full time teacher.

He feels that he is entitled to the tax credit money while I do not as he is working. He puts the children into childcare which costs him a lot each month. He claims not to have any money to spend on himself or the children. What should I do?

Not to mention she has a partner so has another income coming in as well.

But CTC is for the child not for her, presumably she will be claiming a benefit for her such as Income support as well as having housing and council tax benefit and she should also be getting maintenance form her new baby?s father or her partner, which ever he is.

The money she is given is to care for her children, not for her, so if she does not have the children for three days why should she get that money?

Yes you can say it is not her fault her Ex is struggling, but you could also say it is not her Ex´s fault she decided to have a baby and have to go on benefits.

If my Ex had DD 50% of the time I would make sure I gave some of the benefit to them, after all it is joint care - joint expense. I would not want anyone with children struggling so that is another reason to help out.

Don´t think it is as easy as to just get a job, how many people are struggling at the minute to even get an interview?

Ditto Rainbow, it is a sad state of affairs when a guy cannot afford to see his children?! and people think this is a reasonable solution.

He's not having contact, he's the main carer. The OP moved away, she only has the children when they're not at school.

It's absolutely not right that either parent can refuse to pick them up from school and so only sees them 3 nights a week and still gets tax credits as if they're the main carer.

No he's NOT the main carer. Both OP and him say they split childcare 50/50.

Let's look at this another way.

If OP weren't looking after baby no.4 but were working full-time and earning the same as him or even a little bit more, would you then expect her to help him out with HIS childcare costs? I suspect not. Why should she?

But you expect her to give him some of her income from benefit?

As it is a benefit for the children then yeah I would expect it really. She has full CTC despite not looking after them fully.

Lots of talk here about CTC, little about Child Benefit.

As joint carer he is entitled to half the child benefit for sure. He just needs to apply to the CB office then they suspend payments while they investigate and decide.

Of course I would. We seem to be going round in circles.

The only way I would consider doing this if I were OP would be if he were willing to disclose (and Prove) exactly how he spends his money each month.

Also if he's a teacher why do they need such expensive childcare. Surely he could just manage with a half hour from a childminder before he gets home.

If he was to put in a claim of his own he would receive £0 tax credits because he earns too much. The tax credits are based on the Op's financial situation so in effect the government has given the money to her.

If he was still married to the OP they would get no money. What part of having children is expensive has her exDH missed? He can use childcare vouchers to help with the childcare costs. Or perhaps they can swap days so that his childcare costs are massively reduced.

YANBU.

Fwiw, here is what i think:

1. OP moved 50 miles away to be with her new dp, had a baby with him and he is not now in the picture or contributing financially.

1. OP is essentially living off the child tax credits and other benefits, and cannot afford to give half of her CTC to her dh - whether he 'deserves' them or not (and clearly she doesn't think he does because he has other income and she does not).

1. OP was expecting to get support for her position, and is unhappy that people have overwhelmingly told her YABU. In spite of many posts to the contrary, she still thinks she should have the full child tax credits, so has disappeared from this thread and will not reappear.

Just to clear something up, current TC threshold is £43k per annum and the amount you get depends on your circumstances, eg a lone parent working paying for childcare gets more to help with childcare than a lone parent at home (although its then clawed back partly dependent on the income level).

I realise its a confusing system but most "basic grade" teachers would definitely qualify, particularly if they had 4 children in childcare.

crackpot The OP has said that he believes he would get money about 350pounds

Assumptions are all over the place on this thread.

For example, that the partners' TES thread has been taken entirely at face value, whilst the OP is picked to pieces.

As pickgo says, how come the teacher has such expensive childcare? If care is 50/50, how many days a week does he have the children? This makes all the difference.

Of course, being a teacher he gets all the holidays off anyway so no need for childcare then.

Also , if he does claim he'll be entitled to very little, based on a teacher's salary. TC towards childcare is 70% of what you would pay. He won't get WTC unless he earns under 16K (estimate) and after that your tax credits are reduced according to your income.

It sounds to me like he is happy for her to claim as she will get more anyway and then take some of that. The same posters who coongratulate him for this are exactly the same posters who post on benefit bashing threads castigating 'scroungers', yet he proposes this and he's practically a saint!

I am a teacher and need childcare to 6pm each day as well as each morning. WHen using a childminder I still have to pay during the holidays despite not using it.

FFS cant believe how many people post who clearly have no clue about the Tax Credits system. If Op's ex is the TES poster (which seems pretty likely, or else he is a journalist looking for opinions...either way am happy to give mine!). He is a 4th year teacher so earning about £25k. Therefore he would be entitled to a proportion of his childcare being paid (about 50%) and be entitled to the Child Tax Credit bit (currently about £50 pw per child).

The childcare is not hugely expensive for 2 children, 3 days a week IMO. 4 hours a day (an hour before school, 3 after 3-6 perhaps) times 2 children, times 3 days, is 24 hours a week childcare, at £3 an hour each (for a childminder) that makes £72 a week. Hardly that expensive. pickgo I'm allowing for work after school such as preparation and marking, meetings and parents evenings. Because that's what teachers actually do.

If I was the op's ex, paying my own mortgage or rent with no help (get a lodger? with 3 young children in the house? really?)
and caring for 3 children, including feeding, clothing them etc, I'd be a bit resentful of the op living on the £340 a week she gets, with no rent or mortgage to pay.

The fault is with the benefits system, as benefits should be able to be spilt according to care, rather than just allocated to the person who has care for 1 extra day a year. However, in the absence of common sense from the benefits system, the op would be fairer to at least allow the ex to have one of the children on his claim, if not 2.

flippinada feel free to check entitledto.com for the Tax Credits facts.

Why the assumption that OP doesn't have rent or mortgage to pay? Did I miss something?

this is too complicated for my brain to unravel tbh...however, I think there is a simple solution. Maybe OP should get a job herself, instead of living off (and arguing about) the tax that the rest of us pay.

Perhaps she would like to, fourkids...

I assumed that because OP is so entitled that I can't imagine her not realising that she's entitled to Local Housing Allowance . Am happy to be corrected...but not holding my breath.

You don't have to work til 6 tho do you as a teacher. You can do all that stuff at home.

She can't work, she has a baby to look after...I'm sure all taxpayers are happy to support the baby, as apparently it's Dad can't!

perhaps...

He could put the DCs to bed and do all the marking afterwards. I know loads of single mum teachers who do the same.

Or the Op and her ex could swap the days they have DCs so he mainly has them at the weekend saving himself money.