Does anyone know? Does it matter if child benefit is paid into my account or husband's?

[nightcap]

The child benefit for our 4-year-old gets paid into my husband's bank account, and the benefit for our 11-month-old gets paid into mine. Didn't do this deliberately, he just happened to fill in the paperwork for big son and I happened to fill it in for little son.

Just wondering if this makes any difference? I'm at home full-time and the husband works full-time, does it matter that one lot of benefit goes to his account and one to mine? Would it make more sense for them to both be paid to me, or to him?

I have no idea whether there are any tax implications or anything, and have googled around a bit but can't seem to find any answers. I'm guessing maybe it makes no difference at all but just occurred to me I should probably check just in case it might have any bearing on future events.

Any help gratefully received!

If it's paid into his and not yours and you split and there's a dispute over what school your child should go to (and maybe other things but this one I do know about) then the parent who gets to decide is the parent who gets the child benefit. I'm sure there's more.

It also protects your state pension payments in some way which I can't remember.

If I was you I wouldn't give it up.

Wow, that was quick - thanks! And I didn't know either of those things. I had a vague feeling I'd heard something about it affecting pensions but couldn't remember what or when. If that's the case maybe it would make more sense to get both paid to me, since he's already got a work pension and I'm not working at the mo.

I definitely didn't know about the dispute side of things, seems like the sort of thing everyone should be aware of but I guess there's probably a lot you don't find out about until you're going through a split...

are the CB claims in different names as the payment itself can go into whatever account is specified? In order to get the NI protection when you are not working the CB for both children should be claimed by you as you are the person not working. You and your dh could phone up the child benefit people with your NI number and see who is claiming what and whether both claims can be put in your name.

It is supposed to go to the parent who stays at home, to give you some money of your own.

Even seemingly nice people can turn into pricks when you split. I've seen in various threads women not being able to get the cb off their exs.

You might have missed a few years of pension credit/whatever it's called. The cb for your eldest would have meant that even though you were not working, it did not affect your state pension contributions, so you would have enough years for a full pension. You're claiming it now for the younger one, so you'll now be getting that.
It is also relevant if you split up, but only because govt agencies assume the person getting cb is the main carer.

You might have missed a few years of pension credit/whatever it's called. The cb for your eldest would have meant that even though you were not working, it did not affect your state pension contributions, so you would have enough years for a full pension. You're claiming it now for the younger one, so you'll now be getting that.
It is also relevant if you split up, but only because govt agencies assume the person getting cb is the main carer.

Crap, I had no idea! I knew I should have looked into this earlier - story of my life...

Dishwashervodka, thanks for the suggestion, I'll give them a ring on Monday and see if we can get it switched over so benefit for both kids is getting paid into my account. I could kick myself for not having done it all right at the time, but I was incapable of completing a sentence, much less filling in a form properly!

Thanks for the advice, people!