Child Maintenance Tribunal

[mumoftwoplus1]

Has anyone been through one?

Exp has not paid any child support for DC for over 4 years now. Not because he cannot afford to (he owns 5 properties which he rents out and drives a 30k car) He Choose's not to because he knows he can get away with it

When CMS got involved he quit his 9-5 accountancy job and they've never been able to catch up with him since.

He sees DC every other weekend from Friday to Sunday and every Wednesday for dinner plus half of all school holidays so I'm sure his friends and family think he's a really great and dedicated parent. But he won't even buy school uniform, but a winter jacket or shoes because he needs them all kept at his house for when DC is there and also thinks it's fine not to pay CM because DC gets fed when with him and thinks I save a fortune by him doing so

My fiancée is a better dad to DC and as I'm on unpaid maternity leave at the moment, it's he who is keeping the roof over DC head and food on the table. I'm can't understand why exp feels happy with that

Anyway I was able to prove to CMS that exp owns several properties, however they weren't interested so it's now going to a tribunal and I'm hoping it is taken seriously there.

Please tell me of some success stories. I don't want to go through this for nothing

I have nothing to add OP as DDs dad pays the minimum, despite being wealthy.

Something needs to be done on a national level because it's not fair on the children.

That's just AWFUL. I hope you win so much - 5 properties ! He's probably living off the rents ?

@justamumof1 sorry your exp is useless too. It's pathetic isn't it.

@LaurieFairyCake yes they're all rented out but CMS wanted me to somehow prove this

I thought one or two people may have experienced this but perhaps these tribunals are not as common as I thought they may be!

I'm not aware of the system in place in which they check to see if what he's saying is true (it won't be) so I'm not holding out much hope to be honest but I'm hoping it's worth a fight at least

I have.

It's taken a year from beginning to end. The courts ruled in my favour to up the amount to £400 per month.

Same day I got a letter from the CMS advising he's now claiming benefits and it will be £35 a month.

He is SE and is a liar.

does he have to produce a tax return? -
no idea if this is possible but can you give notice to him to bring it with him or you will ask the court to make an adverse inference?

@BitchingRestFace report him for benefit fraud you have the evidence already.
OP - I hope you get it sorted soon - some men are very scummy and I think you are very nice allowing so much access when he's not paying anything.

@BitchingRestFace a whole year!?!

Was it stressful? Can I ask how many hearings there were in total and what the process roughly was like?

I'm so sorry this has happened after all that effort.
I know for a fact that if it were to go in my favour, exp would also try to claim benefits and do the same. He is hell bent on never paying a penny for DC and has told me several times. He was also an accountant and knows exactly how to hide his cash.

Wow, what a loser. Does he see your DC?

He supplied a tax return to CMS but what he claimed isn't true, I'm 95% sure he has a limited company and is just making the numbers up on his tax return.

If he has a limited company financial details will be posted on companies house website. Do you know his company name?

How can he claim benefits if he owns five properties?

Try reporting him to HMRC for tax fraud?

mumoftwo if you believe he has a limited company, it is quite easy to do some detective work, assuming he is tight enough not to pay an offshore trust company (also an accountant).

Google “Companies House Beta” and it will take you to the free to search Companies HousE database.

You can search by officer name.

Chances are he will be a director of said company. Remember to try obvious shortenings of his name, e.g. for Robert try Robert, Rob, Bob etc. Try with and without middle names. Try checking his middle name instead of first name.

You can also search companies associated with an address, although this used to cost money, and i haven’t done this for years.

If you’d like some help, I don’t mind digging a bit. Send me a pm.

He can't claim benefits if he owns five properties. That won't work so you should have him over a barrel

So I've already reported him several times to HMRC fraud team. The financial investigation unit also had his details but didn't investigate because of some issue with the case worker not doing their job correctly and therefore they couldn't escalate it  no one seems to care enough to sort this man out. He is getting away with it neck as it's too easy for him to do so.

Thanks so much for the info @AuditAngel

I did a search and the ltd company he did work for a while back (his brothers company) is the only thing which came up, but unfortunately it was dissolved a few years ago. I'm just guessing he has a limited company, and perhaps he does under someone else's name...would that be a possibility?

But if not, he still has a huge amount of rental income, which funds all his mortgages, all his holidays he takes every year plus the luxurious lifestyle he leads (eating out in fancy restaurants most days) and his expensive car.

I fear that if he can hide that well enough they'll take his word for it and win this tribunal.

But common sense says he can't do all this on thin air! Aarrrgghhh I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall

First I had to contest the CMS decision and request to raise an appeal. You can call them
To do this.

You will be sent some docs to fill out. You have to put all of the info you have. Everything you have in him for them to consider if your appeal has legs.

The court will then write to you to advise if you have been granted an appeal or not.

This is my experience:

Once granted, you are called to attend a hearing. It's you, the judge, another judge or a financial expert, the CMS representative yourself and him.

He didn't attend the first hearing.
I did. They wrote to him asking for all the accounts for his companies. He didn't provide it.

They said they would give him 14 days to provide. He didn't provide anything.

Second hearing - he didn't attend and I did. They wrote to him to advise the same again. CMS attended.

Third hearing - he didn't attend and I did. CMS attended and they worked out his income based on someone in the same area in a similar role. We reviewed his role and looked online in the hearing for similar roles. The CMS kept trying to put his annual income as £25 k and I had to push for it to be £40k even through this was about Two thirds of what he does earn as self employed. However it was better than what I was getting which was £100 a month. Debt of 4K paid off at £10 a month. They wrote to him to advise he may be getting a new court ordered amount if no financial records provided as previously requested.

Received a letter not ago saying they had signed it off and the new amount was £400. Same day I got a letter from the CMS saying he's on benefits and I will get about £5 a week I think and to be reviewed next year.

Coincidence? I think the fuck not.

I do not know which amount he's supposed to be paying. I need to ring the CMS and see if they have had the letter from the court and if that overrides the CMS one.

All this took about 12-15 months and I was chasing each month asking how many two weeks are they giving him to not respond??

I haven't found it stressful as it's just half an hour of my time every month to chase or report.

I will never let him get away with not supporting his child. The money he has paid/currently pays just goes into a savings account for her as I am in a fortunate enough position to be able to do that at this time.

He is vile.

Yours sounds about the same level as mine.

Good luck.

@BitchingRestFace that is really helpful. Thanks for letting me know about your experience of it all

I have sent all the information to court and they have written back saying there will be a hearing (but with no date) however I had 30 days to reply with all the info and it got to them a day or so after that (I've got a newborn and kept forgetting about it 😞) so he can appeal against my late form, however as it was only a day or so over, I'm hoping they won't cancel the whole thing because of it. It was also around the time of lockdown so I'm not sure if the postal delivery was slower because of this? Anyway, I'm not sure what he can say against that, he's still cheating the law and all other decent tax paying people!

I really hope it goes ahead. He's got away with it for years already. CMS were completely useless in my opinion, I first opened the case last May and it took a year for it to get to this stage. There were 15+ different case workers in that time so no continuity whatsoever and so many mistakes were made. I was banging my head against a brick wall for so long and almost gave up it was so frustrating!

Can you appeal their decision and take it back to court? It's mad how it can get to that stage then the same day they believe he's unable to pay and tell you he's on benefits! There is no common sense there with CMS and I get there is a certain protocol to follow but it just seems to be designed for these type of men to be able to abuse the system. It's quite incredible

That happened to me with the late date, as it was sent over Christmas and it was fine. I'm sure yours will be too.

What a disgusting man.

I can't help regarding the CMS, but please keep searching Companies House and reporting him to Revenue. I think there is also a way to find out the legal owner of a house, so if you know the addresses you can pay a small fee for the ownership details. My friend has similar issues with her ex and basically had to become a private investigator herself to track down his financials.

When you get some traction about an investigation or charges then report him to his accountancy body, they can cancel his membership for bringing the profession into disrepute and he won't be able to practice anymore.