Shared Care

[ISeeDadPeople]

Hi
I posted this on chat but thought I should ask in here as I'm really at a loss as to what to do.

My ex and I agreed shared care 50/50 for our DD when we split 4 years ago. He wanted full custody and still behaves sometimes as though he is 'in charge'. However, we manage to keep things civil for the sake of DD.

He would now like to have the child benefit transferred to him so he can claim housing benefit that accounts for our DD. I don't claim any benefits and give him half the CB each month. If I say no he will put a counterclaim in.

Are there any legal (or otherwise!) drawbacks for me or my DD to agreeing to this transfer? Either now or in the future.

Thanks in advance

You could run into difficulties if you lose your job in future. That said, your ex obviously is struggling financially so it would make sense that he has the CB if he needs it rather than you hanging onto it just in case.

I think I saw your other post and people were making comments about how it makes you the primary carer. I am in a similar situation to you although my ex doesn't need the CB. We have absolutely no difficulties in terms of either of us being seen by school, doctors etc - both of us are listed and both of us receive school reports, doctors letters etc. Your ex holding the CB does not mean he could move away with your daughter or change her school without your permission.

If there are issues over school admissions, the address that gets CB would normally be treated as the primary address. Other than that and the obvious knock on effect to other benefits, it's not hugely important.

The father cannot unilaterally change the school placement. If the issue arose, OP could apply for a specific issue order where the child benefit would be irrelevant.

Thanks everyone - this is reassuring. It seems he can't use this to make decisions without me or try to take some claim as 'main parent'. If that's the case I don't have a problem agreeing to the transfer.

Things would be simpler if he was easier to deal with generally!

A court can't overrule school admissions though. So if a school admissions authority used the address the CB is paid to as the tie-breaker, and you're in the catchment of a better secondary court can't decide that your addresses the relevant one to use even if you went for a specific issue order.