where's best for a woman to find out what her separated partner should be paying towards kids?

[ipanemagirl]

I have a relative whose husband has left. Where can she work out if the amount he is contributing is fair?
Can she just call the child support agency? Her solicitor just baffles her with percentages.
Is there any other place she could ask?
Her ex works freelance and has private capital so his 'income' is unknown to her really.

Child support is based on his income. If she doesn't know that then there is no way she can work out if he is contributing the right amount. There is a calculator on the CSA's website but she needs to know his income after tax, NI and pension contributions.

I'm sorry she finds the percentages baffling but that is how it works - 15% of income if there is one child, 20% for two children and 25% for three or more children. This gets reduced if he has the children for an average of 1 night a week or more.

Thanks very much for the advice I'll pass it on. What if the ex refuses to disclose his income? He also does as much or as little work as he pleases generally so I can't imagine any kind of pressure will work!

If she opens a case with the CSA it will be up to them to figure this out. They have extensive powers to investigate. If he is uncooperative he can end up losing his driving license and/or being sent to prison. Sadly they aren't very efficient and don't always investigate properly but it is the best we've got.

Thanks, I'll pass this on.

google csa calculator. Its a great indication of what it hould be.

Thanks for advice.

There are considerably more options than just the CSA!!!! If this man has a good income she could be pursuing other avenues such as a lump sum of cash, maybe a property transfer or top up payments1

Lots of free advice on our UK based website, All the info is free but it is all explained there!

diyfamilylaw

My partner earns nearly 30k a year. What could I get if I left for child support?