I am four years into a five year IVA and remarried in 2012 and now am expecting our first child in Feb 2013. I have put in a request to my supervisor that my payments be reduced from February and then September to allow for the additional cost of a) the baby and then b) childcare once my wife goes back to work.
My wife has nothing to do with my IVA and we met and married well after the IVA started. She has her own mortgage on the property we live in and I contribute to her 'rental' each month. The supervisor is now asking for evidence of her mortgage payments, her income and the 'household' income and expenditure.
She is not willing to provide any personal financial information to the IVA and our view is that we are unsure as to why this should be required given that I am being constantly referred back to 'guidelines' on what allowances are acceptable.
I am only requesting a reduction in my payments to allow me to contribute to the cost of the baby and childcare, not for all of it, so I don't see why they need to know what my wife's financial situation is?
Their thinking behind their request is to calculate your "fair share" of related expenses, both household and towards the baby. By way of example, if her income was twice yours, they would only expect you to be paying a third of the expenses. One the other hand, if her income was half yours it would be fair to expect you to be paying two thirds.
If she refuses to divulge her finances, which she is quite entitled to do, they will assume a 50/50 split.
My opinions are merely that .. opinions based on experience. Always seek professional advice.
IVA Completed 23rd July 2013 .... C.C. 10th January 2014
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I thought that would be the case, she earns about 40% less than I do anyway.
My payments have and continue to be based on an individual I believe and they have never asked for 'household' costs before. My wife and I have separate bank accounts/finances and all bills relating to the property leave from her account each month. I simply make one payment each month to her, although some utilities are in joint names - for ease of communication!
I think she's happy for me to tell them what she earns, but nothing more than that. My concern is that they will say without a full run down of her and mine combined I&E they won't entertain a revision.
I have been told constantly that some items aren't allowed or are above the 'guidelines' so I sort of presumed that there would be 'guidelines' and allowances for an additional child without having to go through all the ins and out of I&E as regardless of what the i&e showed, they wouldn't allow anything outside of the guidelines anyway.
Hi. You are caught in an "in between" situation. Up to now they have been treating you and your expenses as though you were house sharing ( a lodger, if you like, which is a good way to deal with these things sometimes. However, which a baby en route, you have now become a "couple" and your finances are expected to be more intertwined. For instance there are different allowances for day to day shopping, food, etc, for an individual and for a couple in the guidelines. I think it would be difficult for them to treat you as an individual in some respects whilst being part of a couple in others, if you see what I mean.
My opinions are merely that .. opinions based on experience. Always seek professional advice.
IVA Completed 23rd July 2013 .... C.C. 10th January 2014
Hi,
Yes, that makes sense and you've verbalised what I was trying to get my head around. I'm trying to make it as simple as possible for them by giving an expected monthly cost for the baby and then for childcare, splitting that in half and asking for that figure as a reduction as I will simply increase the amount I pay into my wife's account each month. Will see what they say. Thanks.
I think that your IP is acting quite correctly. As Foggy says, the fact that you have re-married and now have a child effectively binds you both as a couple and your IP does need to review the full household income to see what contributions you both should be making. If your IP does not ask for this, then creditors most certainly will - and therefore if you want your request to be reviewed properly all parties concerned need a full set of facts.
Is there any other reason - apart from the feeling of personal intrusion - which causes your wife to need to withhold this information?
The contributions I should be making should surely be based on what I can afford, the 'guidelines' and what the actual costs are. This cost will exist regardless of what income my wife earns. My wife should be making contributions to our baby, not the IVA and I don't see why the IP should set that figure.
The only way for a 'household' i&e to be truly representative of the actual movement of money would be to do a full i&e for both of us combined. This would then include all of my wife's personal outgoings, any loans, spending etc. From this, I then presume that the disposable income would be reviewed and the payments set based on this. Would that be correct?
Re the personal intrusion - is this not enough of a reason?
The point is - as your creditors will view this - is that you are both responsible for contributing to shared household costs, which includes the costs of the little one.
Disposable income is generally calculated on the same ratio as individual earnings, which is why your IP is keen to have your wife's financial details. If she won't provide the information then there is nothing your IP can do to compel her to produce this, however they may be unable to process your application for reduced payments without the evidence required.
I can only speak from my own experiences of dealing with similar situations, but I honestly have never had a partner unwilling to provide their financial details. I think only you can take a view as to whether you feel this is reasonable at the end of the day. And yes - a full household income and expenditure does need to be carried out.
The issue of sharing costs is not in question. My point is that those costs exist regardless of the disposable income of my wife. It seems that there is a presumption that her disposable income is therefore my disposable income, if this were not the case then what she earns would be irrelevant to the issue.
I simply do not see why the amount of contribution I make to my IVA is going to hinge on how much disposable income my wife does or doesn't have. The costs of the baby won't fluctuate depending how on much we earn and I've been told time and time again that there are set 'guidelines' on what will be allowed rather than allowing for personal circumstance.
It's good that you've never had any partners refuse to give details over, they must have a trust in you that I simply do not have with my IP.
No - the presumption is that your individual disposable incomes are calculated by reference to your individual earnings and thus your contributions to shared expenditure.
And set guidelines do not always reflect levels of expenditure required - especially with a little one in the house, so do make sure that you provide your IP with true figures which can be substantiated via evidence if required.
