ExH has halved child maintenance with no warning

[DtPeabodysLoosePants]

My abusive exH has halved the maintenance he pays each month. It's goes in on the 3rd of the month. He earns £35k and doesn't have the kids at all due to abuse. This is a new arrangement though. I now can't pay the rent in full this month and feel sick.
It's a private arrangement so I'll need to go through the cma. How long does this take?

Good luck 💐

Hope you had luck with cms.

The good thing about that claim is he cannot use it as a way to tell him as there is a service that takes it straight from his wages if I understand correctly.

Oh OP what a shit. Just to let you know when you do the CMS claim later there is usually a £20 admin fee. You won't have to pay this as you have a documented history of abuse.

If he doesn't officially live with his gf and her kids I don't see how they could deduct £ for resident children.

Sorry you are going through this the first few years I had to claim CM were awful my ex is an abusive dick too.

Never, ever have a private arrangement with an abusive man, of course he won't pay, it will just be another way to control you.
Go and speak to citizens advice and cma asap and don't arrange anything with him yourselves again.
My first husband did the same then fled to live abroad when I got the cma on him.

For 7 years it's worked fine apart from the occasional threat to reduce it. According to dd he told her I'm not spending the money on them so he was going to reduce it down and spend the extra on them himself.
The only problem with going to the cms is that at the moment we have a court order saying they stay with him x nights a years but due to abuse he's had contact withdrawn but we are waiting for a court date to formalise this. Cms said they'd have to calculate based on the court order. So I might wait and see what happens. I'm going to arrange for collect and pay or whatever it is so it will cost him more. His fault as he can't be trusted to pay now that Ive asserted myself against him due to the abuse. My DV worker has said it's just further abuse and control from him and won't look good in court.

I've completed the claim to the cms and now just need to wait for them to process it. I've requested payment via the service but I've been told that if he wants to pay directly then that's what they have to do. However if he doesn't pay when he should they will change it. He's not going to be happy as he earns more than he lets on. I'm beyond caring.

Good luck 💐

Why is he talking to your daughter about it? I thought he was not allowed contact?

What do you mean by he gives his girlfriend £200. What's that supposed to be, rent? If she's on benefits is she claiming as a single parent fraudulently?

He told dd this a couple of months ago when she was still seeing him. He tends to use dds as messengers and emotionally abuses them eg saying he'll take me to court if they don't want to see him.
I've no idea about the £200 but he says it's maintenance even though he lives there but claims he lives elsewhere, that might have changed now our divorce is over and done with and his finances aren't being scrutinised. Yes, she is a single parent on paper. Due to their jobs and child care needs it would be impossible for them to live apart as they work odd shifts and opposite each other. All meetings with SS have taken place at her address and when the kids were seeing him they always stayed there as that's where all his and their stuff is. They haven't been to where he claims to live in years.
I now have the money for the rent and am all sorted so he's not broken me this time either.
Thanks everyone for the support

Good for you!

If he isn’t self employed go through the CMS if you do it now you might get it sorted so he pays you next month. If he’s pissing about with the payments you’ve literally nothing to lose as once he starts this he’ll keep on doing it. Hope you get it sorted so you can pay.

FYI a few years back when I had similar problems British Gas who I was with at the time gave me a months breathing room so I didn’t pay them that month for gas or leccy because I was so skint and there was no penalty for it. You might be able to do the same with that. It’s not going to pay the rent but it might help you a bit.

I did the application yesterday so it's all in hand and I have the money for the rent thanks to some financial jiggery pokery.

Well dome

Done

I'm anticipating him making this as difficult as possible so I'll need to make sure I save everything possible so I can pay the rent next month too. It can take up to 6 weeks for the claim to be sorted. And he promised never to screw me over when it came to money!

In my experience the CMS do start the correspondence quite quickly so he will probably get a letter on Saturday or early next week. So be ready for the backlash. I still have the texts I was sent. Take care of yourself op.

I'd go through the courts iiwy. As DA has been recognised by the police you will get legal aid. Plus, his dropping your money in half with no warning is abuse.

Ime of an abusive ex, the courts were the only authority he listened to. I got a very decent amount pm by going through the courts.

Is there anything you can sell to bring in extra money?

All sorted with the CMS. I get less than originally because he's lied about other children but it's more than he gave me this month so I'll take that as a win and try to address the false information he's given with the cms.