Maintenance

[henryhsmum]

Hi

I'm having a bit of debate with ex about maintenance for our son and wondered if anyone can advise. He pays me maintenance at CSA rate as per a court order. He is refusing to buy him any clothes, shoes etc himself in addition to this. I thought that the principle of CSA maintneance was that it is decuted above 52 nights per year as ex has to meet his care needs for the amount of time he is with him. hence deduction reflects the fact eh is meeting his care needs directly during those times. So if he has him for a third of the year, he should buy a third of his clothes to cover the times when he is with him.

Does anyone know what the situation is - if you know where any links detailing this are that would be helfpul as may persuade ex.

Its slightly complicated by the fact DS is disabled (autistic)

Thanks

no clothing arrangments

we have an agreement that aswell as maintanence he will give money for summer / winter clothing he did pay it last year but am unsure weather he is gonna pay this year.. could you have an agreement like that?

we don't have any agreement, but ex does buy them some clothes - these then go between houses (ie they have clothes at both houses and just go between dressed in whatever they are dressed in at the time).
I probably buy the bulk of their clothing, but that's because I am their main carer and look after them for the bulk of the time.
If I ask ex, he would get them whatever.

We have had an agreement in past ut basically my ex can be arsey and turns things like this into a battle

There aren't any hard and fast rules and it's quite a tricky one. I always paid for all my DD's clothes, shoes etc, and she went to her Dad's with a little bag with everything she needed. DSS comes with nothing, however, in fact the clothes he arrives in were bought by us - a feat accomplished by his mother handing him over in only a nappy when he was tiny and refusing to provide any other clothes ever.

I would say it's pretty difficult to buy exactly a third of clothing and although you might expect a parent who had a significant amount of contact to provide clothes, I don't suppose anyone fancies handing over a third of the tax credits and family allowance to an NRP when they have them for a third of the time. Besides, a lot of the expenses are the same regardless of how often the child stays - a bed, bedlinen, toys etc.

TBH he will be feeding your son when he has him and incurring additional expenses.

As a previous lone parent and now a step parent from experience I wouldnt expect him to pay. My stepchildrens mum now refuses to send their swimming stuff when we take them.. Its silly...she never takes them and they dont get enough use of it at school.

Tanga also has a good point....does the PWC hand over a third of the child beneft/tax credits? No...

And then there's the CSA deduction calculation, did you know the maximum deduction a NRP can get is 4/7+£7? So if the "NRP" has overnights 5 days a week, they still have to pay the "PWC" for care three days a week. In this the CSA makes the NRP responsible for the childs financial welfare 7 days a week, but the PWC is only responsible when they actually have care.

We provbide clothes for SD when she is with us, but this is entirely our own choice, and in addition to CSA payments as the PWC ensures we never quite get up to 52 nights......