Will Child Support Agency want the money back, if it's not real money?

[Gigi]

sorry for badly worded heading.

i have just discovered, the money X has been paying in Child Support (the amount that appears fortnightly is rarely what the CSA assessment says it will be, the amount goes up and down every time)

well, the money that HAS been paid, is not real money.

X has been in fulltime work for three months
i thought he was being paid a retainer (sales job, based on commissions)
NOW i find out, the job is 100% commissions only. The company LOANS my X, an advance on the commissions, so he can buy food, pay rent, buy petrol. So that means, everything he has been paid for three months, has not been his to spend, it's his to PAY BACK.

so he has paid child support, with LOANED money. not real money.
so he has paid for a term of bilby's ballet, with LOANED money. not real money.

if i had known, i would have said "no, don't do it, don't increase the amount of debt you are getting yourself into".

so now, i am feeling sick. the CS money paid is in my account, i have had a bad feeling about it for months, hence, i have not touched it.

i feel sick that X is living off loaned money (three months so far). He is working fulltime, really long hours, (doesn't finish until 8pm on Saturday nights), driving all over this city, to visit client homes, using heaps of petrol, car is going downhill, needing repairs - and still not making sales.

I'm scared to spend the CS money, worrying when i will asked to give it back, once CSA realise what has happened.

i feel sick thinking about the debt X has, with his employer.
working long hours every week for three months, for no return. just debt.

so many things i could spend that CS money on, i have been putting things off (winter shoes for DD), as i have had a weird feeling about the money).

i doubt this is a common situation, i can't think of many people silly enough to keep working on a commission only job, living off loans - so i doubt i'll get replies of similar stories, maybe this post should go in the venting section - i needed to get this off my chest.

doesn't help that it's nearly June 30 - family supplement time. another thing we miss out on due to x's undone tax returns for last few years. He promised to get the longest outstanding one done by June 30, 2011, before the cutoff before the FS for that year becomes invalid. Yesterday i found out, he doens't even have teh PAYE slip for that tax year. i suggested at the start of May, that he apply to the ATO and/or his employer at the time, for a copy of the PAYE slip - but he chose to ignore that - as usual. Goodbye to a grand that was earmarked for bilby, all due to X being too lazy to lodge the tax return.

vent over.

[LimeSlice]

It is real money. It is his business where the money comes from, not yours.
It is part of his employment contract that he is paid in lieu of commission, and hence, he has used this money to live on - including pay the CS he owes every week.
This IS real money. Loan or not it his concern, they cannot take it back from you, that is just how it is. If he leaves the job then he is in debt to them, they can't ask for all the money back from the people he has paid it with - it would be like the bank asking the supermarket you do your weekly shopping at for the mortgage payments back if you default on your loan, itms.

Don't stress on that, where he gets the money and how he affords his children is HIS concern, not yours. Once he pays it to you, it is yours and nothing can change that, short of him OVERpaying the CS if the amount being paid is wrong or something.
HTH

[Gigi]

i am worried that CHild Support will tell me to give it back to him, not the employer.

because, his PAYE slip from that three months of employment, will show a very low number, not the salary that CSA have in the assessment for that period. So i'm worried they will retrospectively work it out, that he should have paid ZERO for those three months, not the amount he did pay. And then they will want me to pay back that three months of CS, to them, to be given back to X.

(he has DD for two nights per week, so even on unemployment benefits, the assessment would be zero).

i think he found being unemployed so dispiriting, that doing the commission work, living on loans, appealed more than living on unemployment and being rejected for ten jobs every fortnight. Like a break, from the constant "you're too old, we prefer the younger applicant". Never said, but pretty obvious.

[~StarBright~]

I think that if it does work out that he has overpaid then it just means he wont need to pay for a while until its all sorted. So i think you can safely spend the money that you have, and any over or under payments will be sorted between CSA and X. Just bear in mind that maybe in the future you may not receive any payments until its all evened out, but i dont think they will make you give any money back to anyone. I do see where your coming from that the money its been based on and what he is spending isnt his income, and i agree that that will come into account. Maybe just call CSA agency and ask a as a general inquiry what happens if your partner over pays. I am sure they will help you out!!

[Lisa]

They won't take the money off you. If your Ex has overpaid you, they will reduce the amount he has to pay you until the debt is paid. So, say he pays you $60 per month but somewhere along the way he has overpaid you by $100, they may make it that he pays you $50 per month for 10 months to reclaim his $100. Make sense? Because my Ex estimates his income due to working for himself, sometimes I get a debt to him that means I get reduced payments from him, other times he has a debt to me which means he pays me more. I have never had to give money back.

[briggsy's girl]

CSA won't ask you to pay it back - it's not your responsibility. The responsibility lays with your ex. As has been said, if his payment amount is reassessed, it may just reduce your future payments. he will need to be reassessed for the new financial year anyway - it's up to him to either do his tax to give them facts to assess on, or to discuss his assessment with them

[Gigi]

thanks Lisa, Starbright, Limey, Brigsy's Girl - i feel better about this now. Better enough that i will now go and buy bilby some winter shoes now - access that account. Thanks for all your input, i appreciate it.

[briggsy's girl]

enjoy the shoe shopping hun