Child Benefit Post Seperation

[No1toldmeaboutit]

I am divorced and currently living with my OH, I am no longer eligible to claim child benefit as he earns over the threshold.

My ex partner has recently found this out and now wants to claim the child benefit, he has the children 40% of the time and I have them 60%.

I've done a bit of googling and from what I've read its indicated that if my ex partner claims the child benefit then my OH will be liable for the high income charge.

I called HMRC and they have advised that child benefit claim is still in my name and I have effectively frozen it and if he did try to claim it then they would send it to a different department where it would be assessed and I would be contacted.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with this? Obviously my OH doesn't want to pay the charge which is why I stopped claiming it.

My ex has asked for the kids birth certificates which I highly suspect is to do with this claim.

I am over the threshold and my DS's dad claims it. I don't see a penny of it. Following in case this is the wrong thing to have done.

It’s based on the household of the claimant.

If it’s in his name at his address being paid into his account then it’s not anything to do with you or your OH’s income.

If it stayed in your name and was paid into his account then your OH would be liable as you’d be the claimant still.

I don't know if I have just read too much and got myself confused so just looking for some clarity!

Your ex can claim it but it needs to be done in his name. How would he spend it, would he pay you more maintenance or put it in a fund for your dc?

I'm not really bothered about him making the claim as long as it doesn't impact my OH

We've agreed it will cover dinner monies

Does he pay maintenance through CMS or do you sort things yourselves?

If it’s through CMS I’d be wary of him claiming it as they can be a nightmare to change their assumption that the CB claimant is the RP/main carer and should receive maintenance

As long as it’s in his name at his address it won’t affect your OH

If you are not working then you should continue the claim so you get the National Insurance credits but you can ask for zero cash so there’s no repaying hassle later.

In order for your ex to make a claim then he’d have to say that the kids live with him so I’m not sure why your OH would be charged as he doesn’t live with your ex so no ties there.

If your ex fraudulently claims that the kids live with him then he could get into trouble later if it’s discovered that the kids live with you but you can’t stop him committing benefit fraud.

If he claims then watch out for him opening a Child Maintenance claim against you. Child benefit is the gateway to looking like the resident parent and this could bite you in the bum later if he’s the type to want to apply to school's near him etc Most dads aren’t like this but I have read stories on here so just a thought.

its a tricky one, he has recently just increased his days to which he has assumed is 50% so no CMS paid but when I went to update I realised he wasn't actually having them 50% (he works shifts so the share is not based on a 7 day week) so technically he still needs to pay. I still haven't updated the CMS as I haven't told him this yet and he can be awkward about money so been debating whether to let it go.

When we discussed 50% we agreed the Child benefit would cover dinner money and we would go halves on uniforms and any other larger cost items for the kids.

As an aside, why is he asking for the kids birth certificates? Did you not get more than one copy so you can have one each (or he can order a second copy now - it's not expensive)

I do work so the NI credits not an issue.

Really good point though as DS goes to a school near where I live and my ex was not very happy about this at all but at the time he was only having them overnight twice a week and they were with me the majority of the time so I made a decision as primary carer, plus its a better school but there is potential he could move his school if he wanted so thanks for this.

we only got one copy when they were born and I have had them since we split up, the need for them hasn't come up so far.

Ahh.. My natural caution had me get a couple when we registered mine, kept in different places just in case :)

If he’s trustworthy and it benefits you both then it’s worth him claiming

If you’ve any doubt over him then I’d be very wary.

I’m not sure if they’ve changed how they do it now, but previously it was the person with the main claim to it that they’d favour in a dispute. More time, first to be called by the school in an emergency, made the doctors appointments and took them to the dentist were some of the key deciders.

I don’t know if they’ve added the ability to get payment or not to the criteria. He is entitled to claim - children don’t have to live with you to claim, you just have to have a financial responsibility for them - but I don’t know if they now take into account if the other person entitled to claim cannot take the cash.

i doubt it as the point was to have less money going out so it would be a bit daft.

He can buy the birth certificates off the government websites but I guess he’d rather save the money.