Child support

[Desotuatail]

Hi. I am making an enquiry for a friend. This is very complicated.

He separated from his wife some time ago and it is believed that she got letters from HMRC regarding over payment of child tax credits. Recently he has had a letter from HMRC. It appears that she has put the blame on him and managed to redirect HMRC to himself.

I phoned HMRC with him present and it was agreed that this should be a 50 - 50 split.

I am now informed that during there marriage together only one child was his. Is he responsible now 10 years later for both? He believes they may be divorced as 2 years ago she asked him for a copy of the marriage certificate. They have been separated a long time and i believe this is allowed but he has had no notification of this process if it did happen.


Can anyone shed any light on this?

[Amethyst]

Re: Child support

Blimey, sounds like a bit of a pickle and your friend kind of needs to figure out what the situation is.


How long have they been separated ? 10 years ? His wife may have applied to divorce after 5 years separation without his consent but pretty sure he'd have known about it, and the court indeed will have wanted to know from the wife that she had tried to locate him - he could apply for a copy of the decreee absolut - if it exists of course - that'll cost him £65 though if he has no other information, and I think it is unlikely to have happened. Has his wife told him she has divorced him or is he going just off her asking him for a copy of the certificate? Could be any reason she wanted a copy of the marriage certificate - passport application maybe?

Child Tax Credits is a household benefit based on household income and dependants in the household.... If they claimed it jointly then they are responsible to repay any overpayment jointly.... regardless of whether one of the children turns out not be be his child biologically. It's jointly and severably liable I think so HMRC can chase either or both of them for repayment.

How much is the overpayment? when was it ? and what was his circumstances at the time of the overpayment - was it before he left?

Has he been paying child maintenance ?

[Desotuatail]

Re: Child support

Thanks for your help. I have asked my friend those questions. If they got divorced (without his knowledge) would that affect child tax credits up to that period before then as they would be grown up?


He claims that he had no knowledge of any child tax credits. How does this JOINTLY work? Does it take 2 signatures? Who's bank account would this be paid into? Would they as joint claimants get a 50% split into the bank accounts? I think he could get back tax information on this.

[Amethyst]

Re: Child support

It depends when the overpayment was. When he left the tax credit claim would have changed to a single claim from a joint claim, so any overpayment while it was a single claim would only be repayable by the person that claimed. Have a read up on Tax Credits - https://www.gov.uk/child-tax-credit - most people claim as a couple have the tax credits paid into one account - could be one or the other parties accounts or a joint account. Yes both would have to sign the claim form and enter details of their income/hours etc each year etc.

[Kati]

Re: Child support

I claim CTC for my three as a joint claim with my OH ... it get put into my account. His name and NINO are both on the CTC renewal forms which are sent out every year tho'

I'm not sure if he had to sign anything either as we just added on our (now) almost 4yr old onto my existing claim

[Kati]

Re: Child support

This may be a useful (if VERY long) read - http://revenuebenefits.org.uk/pdf/HMRC_research_78.pdf