Do you have to inform CSA if you separate?

[gemitygem]

Myself and my husband are going to separate on very good terms. Are we legally required to contact the CSA or can we sort financial matters out ourselves regarding maintence?

I intend to receive income support.

Thanks

if you claim benefits they will ask and its an offence to lie to them
but if you can find a way to leave the csa out of it, do

Depends how amicable things are. I didn't involve the CSA and my ex reduced the amount of maintenance he paid. I left it and eventually when he reduced it to zero I contacted the CSA. They were fab. They calculated how much he should be paying (turns out he had completely lied about his income when we were together). He refused to pay. They threatened proceedings. He then paid the £3,500 arrears that had accrued having told me he would never pay me. I worked out that had I applied to the CSA earlier I would have been over £10,000 better off.

No you do not have to go through CSA!

Yes Job centre will ask if you receive maintenance, whether it be private or CSA makes no difference and it makes no difference to your claim either however much you get so to be honest dont know wht they ask or need to know!!

You don't have to go through the CSA.

There should be a maintenance calculator on their website so you and your H can use it to agree how much he needs to pay. He can then set up a direct debit to your bank account.

However if it goes wrong and he gets nasty then the CSA can sort it out. FWIW I've used the CSA for over 2 years as my XP was abusive and I haven't had any problems, it was all sorted out within 6 weeks.

I think the more you can sort out in a separation without recourse to courts and authorities, the better (and cheaper) it is. Get some good legal advice first so that you're not selling yourself short.... then use that as the starting point and work up. My DS's father pays far more than the CSA recommendation, for example.

You don't need to tell the CSA. You do need to tell the people at the job centre but maintenance isn't counted anymore for IS.

Does claiming income support not automatically trigger a CSA claim though?

I want my ex to be able to stay in the village we live in which is high rent values. I won't ask him for any maintence payments as the income support will cover me and he will be able to afford to stay close the the children. But surely the income support kind of comes out of his pocket through the CSA to make up for my income support payment?

Basically I don't want any maintence payments from my ex but I want to claim income suppport.

CSA claims are not automatically triggered.