shecha

Hello everyone,
Does anyone know the easiest/cheapest way to pay child maintenance from Oz to Uk?
Bearing in mind the payment method would have to show proof of payment from my hubby to his ex, or she will undoubtedly state that she's never received payments.
My hubby wants to avoid charges for transferring money into an account in the UK and he'll also be stopping payment for maintenance until employment is secured, so he can't continue with the Standing Order he already has set up.
The Uk/Oz Child Support Agency won't help with payment, unless my hubby refuses to pay when he's working and his ex makes an application to the C.S.A. and they enforce payment from his wages.
Any ideas????
Cheers
Shell

tiredwithtwins

are you sure about the csa? i think this was discussed a while back, and im sure someone said that as the csa is a uk govt quango, they dont have any jurisdiction outside the uk, so cant impose any sort of enforced payments on your wages in australia!? unless there is some sort of reciprocal agreement with the aus govt to enforce the uks csa rules? Im sure when we looked into it (cos my other half has 2 kids from his 1st marriage) we discovred he wasnt legally obliged to carry on paying her.
try the forum search thingy.....

sue

andrew63

Shell, Sue is 100% corrrect
The UK has NO jurisdiction outside of the UK.
I have discussed this in length with the CSA and they told me that once I leave England, I am not liable.
I no longer pay
I have not been approached by the CSA or any other type of CSA outside of England for many years now.
I pay what I want to pay now inlcuding providing tickets for the kids (and their mother to come to see me and my children.
The UK govt will support those back in UK for the same amount so there is no question of the UK residents getting any less money at all. Anything you do decide to send over is a "bonus" and more than they are currently getting as it won't be taken into account by the CSA unless you want it to!

Andrew

shecha

Hi guys,T
Thanks for your responses.
I've already looked into the situation regarding the C.S.A. and believe me, so has my ex-wife's solicitor!!!
I'm aware the UK C.S.A. has no jurisdiction outside of the UK, but the UK and Oz Governments have reciprical arrangements regarding child maintenance enforcement and a 'parent with care' in the UK can request a maintenance assessment via the Oz C.S.A. for child maintenance payments/enforcement against a 'parent without care' living Oz.
So basically, if my hubby didn't pay maintenance for his daughter whilst working in Oz, his ex in the Uk, could request a C.S.A. application/assessment and the Oz C.S.A. have a duty to assess it and enforce payments directly from my hubby's wages.
I've looked this up on the Oz C.S.A. website and this is correct and it was the only way my hubby's ex would agree to arranging the medical for his daughter to fulfil the health requirement for his spouse visa to be granted.
So anyone in Oz who is not paying child maintenance for children living in the UK, doesn't have an ex-partner who realises they could still enforce payment from the wages of the 'parent without care' via the Oz C.S.A!
We don't want this to end up going through enforcement visa the Oz C.S.A. but need to know the cheapest/easiest method of paying the ex as a voluntary arrangement!

Hels

Check out opening an account with HIFX. I know a few do it already to pay bills they still have in the UK. I am sure they said somewhere they dont have the charges the banks do.

Its nice to see someone continuing their responsibility of paying their maintenance of their child even if moving abroad. Just because someone moves abroad, it doesnt stop them from being a parent with a responsibility for providing for their child. Good for you guys

Hope this helps.

Hels
xxz

shecha

Cheers Hels,
Me and my hubby would never stop paying maintenance for his daughter unless my hubby wasn't working for a short period (which might be the case for the first few months of being in Oz). However, my hubby's always paid well in excess of what the C.S.A. calculations and he'd prefer to carry on with a voluntary arrangement, rather than going via the Uk/Oz C.S.A..
In fact we dearly wish we could have brought his daughter with us but ex was obviously not having any of it!!
I'll check out HIFX and see what their charges are. It might be cheaper to transfer money into my hubby's Uk account every 6 months maybe??
Cheers for that.
Shell
x

Hels

Shell,

Perhaps you could PM Pollyana as I remember reading a thread just yesterday where she says she pays her loans and credit cards using HIFX quite easily with the internet. She might be able to help you more than I can as I am only just looking into this as our circumstances have changed and we may need to go down the same route to pay a couple of bills off once we get to Oz....

Pollyana is usually more than happy to help with any questions you have.

You never know, I might be coming to you for advice in the next couple of weeks

macnet1

I lived in Oz for over 2 years and the CSA could not touch me, as soon as I got back they were straight in there !!!!.

Im away back to OZ next year becouse there taaking half my wages from me

Cheers
Mac

shecha

Hi Mac,
You're lucky then if you don't want to pay maintenance, coz your child(ren)s mother could enforce payment via the Oz C.S.A., so you'd better hope she doesn't find out!!!
Have a look at the Australian C.S.A. - 'people living abroad' section.

Shell

tiredwithtwins

it could be because he (sorry, being presumptious you are a he!) is in scotland.....perhaps scottish law doesnt have reciprocal agreements with oz?

sue

shecha

Hi Sue,
As far as I'm aware, the U.K. C.S.A. applies to England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland. But maybe I'm wrong.
We had to do a lot of research to find out about paying maintenance and my ex certainly found out her rights on how enforcement can be applied, so I would imagine there's plenty of 'parents with care' who don't know their rights about enforcing child maintenance payments from a 'parent without care' who is residing in Oz.
Shell

Siren & Brian

I would have thought that the easiest and cheapest way to pay the support would be to go through the CSA as it would not cost a cent.

shecha

Hi Siren,
We thought that, but my hubby can't apply for an assessment himself via the Oz C.S.A. (to request they deduct the payments and pay his ex), only his ex can make the application for assessment/enforcement and this would mean a delay of a couple of months or more, and then my hubby would owe arrears and they will deduct loads more out of his wages.
It would also then look like he didn't want to pay child maintenance and he doesn't want his ex to have the opportunity to tell his daughter that he didn't want to give any maintenance for her, coz he wants to see his daughter in the future when she's older.
(There's been loads of problems with the ex being malicious and refusing my hubby contact coz she's jealous that my hubby is with me and we've got a baby son etc. You know what ex's can be like - using their children as weapons to seeks revenge!)
So my hubby really wants to avoid the C.S.A. route if possible.
I think he'll have to transfer money using HIFX or someone similar.
Cheers
Shell

andrew63

Shell
I have checked the UK and the Oz CSA sites and I remain convinced that the UK CSA has absoultely no jurisdiction overseas (except certain situations, see below)
This is a subject I am very knowledgeable of (not for trying to avoid my responsibilities so people please don't comment unless you know the facts)
The only recourse the UK ex would have is to seek a Court Order for maintenance - that CAN be carried over to Australia.

If your child was an Australian resident, then the Australian CSA would be able to do different things!

If you wish to send maintenance, I am not sure on the best way to do it financially. The CSA have no involvement. The amount you send can be dictated by yourself and if the UK ex disputes, she will have to go to Court. The money I used to send to my ex never went on my impoversished child so I set up a trust fund for him that I pay into monthly for when he is 18.

Andrew



http://www.csa.gov.uk/newcsaweb/faq/...ion/abroad.asp
When parents live abroad.
The Child Support Agency can only deal with an application for child maintenance when both parents and the child live in the UK.
The only exceptions to this are when the non-resident parent or the parent with care:
is working abroad in the service of the crown, i.e. – is a civil servant or works within Her Majesty's diplomatic service or within Her Majesty's overseas civil service.
is a member of the Armed Forces
works abroad for a UK based company, i.e. it employs people to work outside the UK but makes payments via a UK payroll; and the company is registered under the companies act 1985 (England, Wales and Scotland) or the companies (Northern Ireland) order 1986.
works abroad on secondment for a prescribed body, for example, - from a NHS trust; or regional health authority; or primary care trust; or local authority.
You can get more advice about whether these rules apply to you from our National Helpline on 0151 2431901.
If your maintenance has been calculated by the Child Support Agency you can contact the centre dealing with your case using the following numbers. Please note that it is generally not possible to dial the 08457 numbers advertised in our leaflets and elsewhere on this website when calling from abroad.
To ring our centres from abroad please use the following numbers:
Falkirk - 01324 625758
Hastings - 01424 465095
Dudley - 01384 480188
Plymouth - 01752 695111
Birkenhead - 0151 6490861
Belfast - 028 9043 8596

If one of the parents lives abroad and does not fall into one of the categories above then the parent with care can apply to the courts for child maintenance. If the parent with care needs help in collecting the money awarded under the court order for maintenance they can contact the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders section at the Department of Constitutional Affairs. Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders - or REMO - is the process by which maintenance orders made by UK courts on behalf of UK residents can be registered and enforced by the courts or other authorities in other countries.
This is a reciprocal arrangement which means that foreign maintenance orders in favour of individuals abroad can be registered and enforced by UK courts against UK residents.
You will find more information including a list of the countries that have signed up to the agreement and contact information for the REMO section by following this link.

Pollyana

Hiya,
I dn't use HIFX, but a company very similar - www.tranzfers.com
If you have a look for a thread started in the last couple of days about paying off UK credit cards & loans theres some details on there. Costs £7/$15 per transaction, which is cheaper than normal bank telegraphic things, all you need is a UK bank account into which to transfer the money via the net. So either you have an UK account with internet banking, then you move the money by net banking into an account run by the other parent, or you could transfer the money straight to their account. I would suggest the former - that way you can check when the money has reached the UK and you will have a statement to prove you paid it from your account to the other parent.
If you want any more info, jut pm me. I haven't yet found a cheaper or easier way of moving money between countries.