Hi,
My partner and I both have children from a previous marriage. I have a 9-year old who lives with us. My partner has a 20-year old, who lives on his own, and a 17 and 14 year old. The two youngest ones live with their mother. I receive child support from my ex for our son. My partner and his ex had a mutual agreement for the past 8 years saying they would share costs for their children. My partner and I recently bought our first house together and his ex signed a statutory declaration to say what their child support agreement was when our loan company requested this information.
However when we moved into the house she suddenly applied for child support through CSA. She also now has 100% care of the two younger teenagers as they have suddenly decided they don’t want to spend time with us anymore ( although we believe that it wasn’t entirely their decision). My partner recently changed his job position which means he gets $10,000 a year more income, however this is all going to his ex for child support. He now has effectively $200 less net pay per fortnight and on top of that his child support has gone up from $275 per fortnight to $430 per fortnight. Obviously it doesn’t pay off to try and improve your finances when you get less than you did when you were doing a lower position.
We are really struggling to make ends meet and to pay our mortgage and other bills. I think if our loan company had known the amount of child support we would end up paying after she decided to throw their agreement out the window, they probably wouldn’t have given us the loan since we wouldn’t be able to make repayments.
I have now started a new job working more hours as this was the only way for us to get more income, since the more my partner earns, the more he pays in child support. However this means that the child support I receive will also go down. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
In the meantime my partners ex is living the highlife, cashing in on our money and living with her new husband who earns quite a decent income, probably more than my partner and I combined. She chooses not to work, she has two younger children with her new husband (3 and 5 year olds).
Is there anything we can do about this? I don’t see why she can’t work, I have always worked since my son was 1 year old. What about both parents being responsible to provide for their children equally? Because at the moment it’s not equal. She contributes nothing financially while my partner contributes 100%. Yet we have to worry about being able to pay bills and put food on the table for my son. The child support system is completely unfair in this regard. We can’t afford any lawyers and mediation is not an option as the other party will not consent to that. What can we do? Thanks
My partner and I both have children from a previous marriage. I have a 9-year old who lives with us. My partner has a 20-year old, who lives on his own, and a 17 and 14 year old. The two youngest ones live with their mother. I receive child support from my ex for our son. My partner and his ex had a mutual agreement for the past 8 years saying they would share costs for their children. My partner and I recently bought our first house together and his ex signed a statutory declaration to say what their child support agreement was when our loan company requested this information.
However when we moved into the house she suddenly applied for child support through CSA. She also now has 100% care of the two younger teenagers as they have suddenly decided they don’t want to spend time with us anymore ( although we believe that it wasn’t entirely their decision). My partner recently changed his job position which means he gets $10,000 a year more income, however this is all going to his ex for child support. He now has effectively $200 less net pay per fortnight and on top of that his child support has gone up from $275 per fortnight to $430 per fortnight. Obviously it doesn’t pay off to try and improve your finances when you get less than you did when you were doing a lower position.
We are really struggling to make ends meet and to pay our mortgage and other bills. I think if our loan company had known the amount of child support we would end up paying after she decided to throw their agreement out the window, they probably wouldn’t have given us the loan since we wouldn’t be able to make repayments.
I have now started a new job working more hours as this was the only way for us to get more income, since the more my partner earns, the more he pays in child support. However this means that the child support I receive will also go down. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
In the meantime my partners ex is living the highlife, cashing in on our money and living with her new husband who earns quite a decent income, probably more than my partner and I combined. She chooses not to work, she has two younger children with her new husband (3 and 5 year olds).
Is there anything we can do about this? I don’t see why she can’t work, I have always worked since my son was 1 year old. What about both parents being responsible to provide for their children equally? Because at the moment it’s not equal. She contributes nothing financially while my partner contributes 100%. Yet we have to worry about being able to pay bills and put food on the table for my son. The child support system is completely unfair in this regard. We can’t afford any lawyers and mediation is not an option as the other party will not consent to that. What can we do? Thanks
