Self employed Husband - child maintenance

[PrincessPants30]

Going to issue divorce papers on Monday at mediation, husband is a self employed and l have been told this will prove difficult in trying to get any maintenance out of him.

Anyone have any tips? He says he's got mo money, he barely pays me from month to month despite a 50/50 mortgage and a 22 month old daughter. Yet he wanted to try and take over the mortgage from me.

Someone please tell me that he's not going to get away with his adulterous affair scot free. He now has a 18 month old also - if that makes any difference.

[HowJustHow]

Unfortunately Princess maintenance issues with people who are self employed can be extremely complex.

I wish I had better news for you but there are a lot of self employed NRP that severely under-declare their income and then only have to pay the bare minimum. I am by no means an expert on this subject but would you consider posting on another board like AIBU or Legal. They get alot more traffic, and despite the bad reputation AIBU sometimes gets there are ALOT of knowledgeable and lovely people on there that would be able to give you more accurate advice.

Good luck OP.

[notarealgrownup]

I was given the heads up on this before split with self employed DH so ferreted away examples of his "unorthodox bookkeeping".
I then informed him of this when he started playing silly buggers over maintenance for DCs.
Probably too late for you but have you got any evidence if cooking the books by him?

[PrincessPants30]

No evidence per se.. But I think I can make him uncomfortable.

Mediation was bloody awful x

[bongobaby]

Exp evaded the csa for years as he was self employed. I persivered with it and they set a default amount plus arrears and liability orders, he ignored,thinking he could get away with it even telling them to go f**k themselves and who did they think they were phoning him up!! Eventually csa sent bailiffs to his house and now he has to regularly pay a set amount through them.
He played silly buggers and the csa got so fed up of his defiant attitude in the end.

[PrincessPants30]

Thank u for ur reply.

[elizalovelace]

My exH went self-employed deliberately so he could avoid paying me any maintenance, and his ploy has worked! I have received almost nothing for the past three years though he has been living it
up with his gf. He is a sad excuse for a father.

[Pinkballoon]

The main issue will be that if you go through the CSA, yes, they will be able to make an assessment of his income (what he admits to!), but they won't be able to do anything if he doesn't pay, as he doesn't have an employer that they can approach for an attachment to earnings order.

[MariaJenny]

If you think h e will rarely pay anything you might want to try to get more of the joint assets now - eg 100% of the equity in the house as at least that is a bird in the hand. You could still try for child maintenance later but try to get as much capital now as you can.

[Onmyown1]

My first husband was self employed and I did part of his books, accountant did the rest. He did a lot of cash in hand jobs and what went through the books the accountant got down to a really low profit. He had to pay £5 a week for 2 children. I gave the csa copies of his cash in hand jobs for 2 yrs and he was going on holiday 5 times a year but payments still remained at £5 a week

[dripty]

Onnyown1, surely the taxman would be interested as he evaded paying tax on the cash jobs?

[TheNewSofa]

He will only be able to fiddle his books if hes getting cash in hand.

The csa calculation will go off his last submitted tax return. The csa will want proof of the tax return, they wont just take his word for it over the phone.

[Onmyown1]

Yes I reported him to the tax man, they audited him which apparently caused him a lot of trouble. Don't know what came of it as we don't speak at all.

[Traveller123]

How is income calculated if NRP is self employed? I hear many different versions such as

Gross taxable profits
Net profit after Corporation Tax is paid
Salary plus dividends

Which is correct method?

[seventhgonickname]

Your solicitor can as for a copy of his accounts when filling firm E and forensic scrutiny of bank accounts usually turn so interesting numbers up.

[Oblomov17]

"He will only be able to fiddle his books if hes getting cash in hand."

I disagree with this.
You need to be very VERY Savvy and clued up. Don't assume anything. I have worked in accounts for 30 years and have seen very clever accounting that is done so well, everything played down, toned down, amounts hidden, accountants advising clients to take advantage of every loophole.

There is a very fine line between being totally honest and throwing your money at the tax man, to tax avoidance, to tax evasion.

Get some help. From someone who knows what to look for and how to find it.

[Traveller123]

What happens if a Self Employed NRP reports a loss on their Ltd Company? Is the CM assessed as being zero?

[ghanchi]

Child maintenance is initially calculated based on declared earnings, and so self-employed non-resident parents have more control over how they present their income. A company owner paying themselves a minimum wage but having a high dividend income, will have their child maintenance liabilities calculated solely on the minimum wage. In some self-employed cases, this is an unintended consequence of a tax efficient arrangement; in others, it is a deliberate attempt to minimise liabilities.
There would be a lot more payments made if the non resident parent was able to see their children even if it was in a supervised contact centre. Why would anyone want to pay when the non resident parent can't see them, sounds selfish I know, however, you would not buy a car on finance, pay the monthly payments but not have the car.