Can my ex claim Tax Credits without my knowledge?

[goingwiththeflow]

Split from the ex 3 years ago, we have three children, he has the kids three nights a week including a weekend day (on weekdays he collects after their evening meal and drops them of at school in morning) I do rest of to ing and fro ing preschool/school pick ups lunches etc, provide clothes , pay for school trips, party presents etcetc . I receive the CB and did receive a small amount of tax credits until today due to the new changes when our claim (mine & DH) has been reduced to zero.
The ex has previously challenged the tax credits & CB saying he should have it ..it was passed to tax credits to evaluate and both were awarded to me as their primary carer.
My concern is now that I no longer have a claim , can the ex come along and put a new claim in for them claiming he cares for them as a primary carer ( he would receive about £100 a week) without my knowledge ? He point blank refuses to buy the kids any ordinary boring stuff like school shoes & uniform and regular clothes (as 'I left therefore I MUST pay the cost')but will occasionally buy the 'exciting' purchases like party dresses and dress up shoes or MU football kits . He pays no Maintenance and says if I put a claim in he will put the kids into childcare so I don't see them

Just wondered whether I am still in the Tax Credit system as being the primary carer or will I just get wiped off (last time he tried to claim Tax Credits informed me )

I think the Tax Credit system assumes the status quo until they are told otherwise. I would suggest that you should contact them, talk it through and make sure they have the right information on their records. If they contacted you once before, there's no reason to suppose they won't contact you again.

His threat about 'putting the kids into childcare' sounds rather desperate. Would you consider going the CSA route or are you happy with things the way they are?

When I split from DS dad he could claim Working Tax credits, but not the Child element as the CB was paid to me. I signed away my right to the CB to my ex so that he could claim the Child element of Tax credits. He couldn't afford to pay the bills without it (whereas I could) and i had no intention of my child losing what had been his home since his birth (i moved out). This was nearly four years ago now, but at the time I was informed that as far as HMRC were concerned the parent in receipt of CB is considered the primary carer. I had to sign official HMRC paperwork to relinquish my claim for the CB and name his father on the paperwork as the new recipient.

We have DS an equal amount of time during the week and neither of us pays maintenance to the other. In our situation though it was an amicable split and we have remained good friends.

At the moment its not worth the grief it would cause, but if he got awarded the tax credits I know he wouldn't spend that £100 on improving things for the kids it would be spent on his social life etc .. and I wouldn't know he was getting it so couldn't 'insist' he uses it for the kids and not himself... he would still plead poverty and not buy the boring day to day things they need.

Seriously considering the CSA but he will just start telling the kids that 'Mummy is taking their money away from them' etc etc he is not above any of that kind of behaviour they already repeat parrrot fashion 'daddy only has pennies to spend because you don't love him anymore and you've got lots of money' the fact he had the house all the furniture and I started all over again ( weak and pathetic and brow beaten at the time ) is not something I want to have to sit down and explain to the kids as (stupidly) I don't want them thinking their Dad is a t**ser!

Maybe its worth a call to the Tax Credits adviceline people ..but imagine they may be a bit busy at the moment!

queenrollo thanks for that info .. think that means he wouldn't get it anyway ..will go and check the calculator thing .. unfortunately as you can probably tell ours isn't amicable even after three years !! ...maybe one day

have just spoken to ex actually.

he submitted claim for both tax credits, was refused the child element on the grounds he didn't receive CB. Was told that he could not submit a claim to have it paid to him instead, that he could only get it if i agreed to legally sign it over.

So it seems that unless you agree and sign it over to him there is nothing he can do.

and i'm sorry your ex is being such an arse...

Just make sure you have it on record with the Tax Credits office - a registered letter for example & keep a copy - that you are the primary carer. That way if there are any difficulties, you can point to the letter and say that they had the information.

BTW.... Children don't need to know Dad is a t*ser :) but I don't think it's right to let them go on seeing him as a holy victim either. I've seen kids in the past horribly disappointed when they've realised their lovely Dad really was a t*ser and mortified that they gave Mum a hard time because they thought she was the bad-guy when reaally she was too kind to say anything. Give them some age-appropriate, uncontroversial truths from time to time just so that they've got a bit of balance.

thanks everyone ...think it is worth a letter too..and I will have to start saying 'now thats not true .. this is how it is' in 3yr & 5yr old talk and perhaps a bit more info for the 9yr old ..as my name suggests I was working on the 'they'll find out the truth when they are older...' but can't have them thinking I am 'evil' for the next ten years ..(that was the Ex's best to have my then 3 year old daughter ask me what 'evil' meant and when I asked why she said 'because daddy says thats what you are' )

Hi iv been in and out of court for years since my son was born he's now 7 and I have custody of him my ex see is son when he can be bothered to turn up he's accused me of everything and now he picked my son up from school last Friday and he hasn't taken him in school all week he said my son has a cold then says my son doesn't want to come home and he wants me to give him money for his mega rider and my sons dinners he has refused to return my son and now he's saying he will have my money stopped because I won't sign them over to him and no will help to get my son back I don't know what to do police won't do anything because he's not abusing him

You should contact the Tax department and enquire about it. But from what you describe I feel its possible. Else your Ex would not have confidently challenged you.

Dee you need to get a solicitor onto it immediately. Hope it works out for you, he has no right to behave in this way.

Thank y

I don’t understand what you mean about his threat to Put them into childcare so you don’t see them?

Despite that if you did claim maintenance would he want to spend even more money putting three kids into childcare? It would cost a fortune!

Do your kids a favour and put in a claim with the CMA...... it’s their money!