I'm fuming. Is this right?

[Amity]

Mel, as you probably know, I work in this area a lot.

My advice - leave it in the hands of the CSA. Let them sort it out.

His income = his problem.

[Pandora]

I thought if an accountant did your tax you have until the end of March the following year to get it done? Is this not the case?
I would contact CSA first thing tomorrow.

[Nelle]

Wishing you strength and conviction.

As the others have said, you as carer of your son are completely legally entitled to money to care for your son - and as Kitt3n said, if you start off feeling a bit unsure or guilty, put a percentage away for your son for when he gets older, or for a holiday!

[Melly01]

rayray, XP has never, that I know of anyway, gotten an accountant to do his tax. When I was with him, he got his Mum to do it for him. He probably worried doing it through an accountant would take away more of his money.

I will call CSA tomorrow, XP hasn't called back. I won't call him until I know more, I don't want to let myself get upset by anything else he says until I have a bit more information on my side.

Thank you all so much for your advice and support. I am thinking that I will just let CSA do it's job, and if he has a problem with it he can do something about it, but it's not really my problem.

[Footsteps]

i wish you the best of luck with this...my mum went through similar with my real dad (dont speak to him) hes alot like logans father unfortunately. you are doing the best for your son unlike him...selfish..s!!!. hope you are ok and dont let him bully or intimadate you huni xxx

[widdly]

wow, im sorry that your X is even more of a jerk than mine! I agree with the other girls, let CSA do their job and do not feel guilty about him paying for his ow child's upbringing, thats the responsibility he took on when he got you pregnant. My XH hasn't done his taxyet either cause he knows CS is going to go up a heck of a lot, they are such scum bags!!

[Rumpleteaser]

I had a friend in a similar boat, she appealed how much he was paying as it was based on a year he was not working much due to ilness, but has since recovered and got regular work, but had not made any declaration to which ever agency he needed to. So my friend saw centrelink or the agency for collecting money from the non-caring parent (sorry can't remember the name) nad ge had to then declare his assets, her payment have increased from $10 week to $70, so not much really.
But he can't do what he is doing, you have given him oppertunities to see his child so you are not obstucting him.

[Zennie]

I agree with the other girls. If hes not able to be a dad then he should pay for it for the rest of his life just to remind him how much of a pathetic uncommitted ass he is.

Just a quick question, are you recieveing all your entitlements from centrelink. They have pensioner education supplements and child care assistance for us single mums. I am studying part time and just recently got the PES and PES one off Payments. so i get 60 Fn extra cos i am studying, and 2 one off payments that totalled $1100 because i entered study. Also they cover most of My childcare costs. i pay 25 a week and my son is in full time. look into it if you haven't already. I know every cent helps.

wish you all the strength to get through this. I am grateful that my XPis not being an ass with the CS but he pays 100 F/n through a private agreement but thats the rate CSA advised. Will go up cos hes about to qual his apprenticeship. but not till next FY. it think

[Yael]

Hi,

My DH works for CSA, so if you want some advice off the boards about your situation, send me a PM.

(oh, and to anyone else reading this who i offered DH's help to, he responded with this huge long email reply, but i deleted it by accident before i posted it, and now can't remember who it was for (cos of course i didn't tell DH your name), so if this applies to you, please PM me again and i'll get DH to check his outbox... it was around 6-8 weeks ago i think!)

[Melly01]

Thank you all for the support and advice. I called CSA yesterday and the lady basically told me what you all said. She also said that the way they look at it, if we were still together then DS would be benefiting from 100% of both our incomes. So the estimate is pretty reasonable considering.

Now I just need to get the guts up to call XP and tell him that I won't be doing a private agreement, and even if I did it would have to be similar to the estimate as I would want it to be collected by CSA (I don't trust him to pay it himself since last months payment was delayed twice and not even paid (AH! $38 not paid, and he's earning that much.. ), but at least I can keep a record of these things through CSAonline, I won't tell him I don't trust him though).

I forgot to add, Zennie, yep, I am getting PES & JETCCFA, which is helping out a lot, especially at the start of the semester when I need to buy text books! If I didn't have JET I wouldn't be able to study at all, and I so want to hopefully make a better life for me & DS rather than me going back to a job in retail. I know I won't be earning heaps in what I'm studying for, but I also want to hopefully show DS that you can have a job you enjoy, unlike what I felt about working at a supermarket heh

[Lulu]

Don't bother calling him. Wait till he gets the letter. If he does call just day - NOPE going through csa and hang up. You don't need to listen to his crap.

[beaver]

I agree with everyone. Leave it with CSA. Logan is entitled to be financially supported by his father until he is independent and his father should pay whatever is appropriate. Leave it with CSA, less stress for you

[tiggerandpooh]

don't bother calling him at all. just let CSA work it out. less stress for you. and YOUR not doing anything wrong hun.

[Footsteps]

^^^^yeah that xox