Hello,
I hope it's okay for me to post here; this website was recommended to me by some friends of mine who are parents.
My husband has his son (age 8) around 65% of the time. It is meant to be a 50/50 split, but he often has him more due to the mother's job (which pre-COVID involved a lot of travel). The boy has a bedroom, clothes, school uniform, toys and so forth at both houses. Any costs (such as school trips) are shared 50/50.
When my husband originally split with his ex-wife, the boy was just a baby, so due to breast feeding etc. my husband couldn't have the baby 50% of the time. Because of this, he paid his ex a few hundreds pounds a month (which was 25% over what the CMS recommended).
These days, they have a 50/50 split, but as I said, we usually have the boy more than that. It is never less, and it hasn't been for years.
Despite this, my husband has until recently continued to pay his ex a few hundred a month.
About a year ago, me and my husband planned to go away for the weekend. About an hour before we were due to leave, his ex rings and tells my husband that he will need to take his son this weekend as she has too much work on. My husband explained that we had plans and asked if she would re-consider. His ex got angry and started threatening my husband with removing him from the birth certificate and reporting him to the CMS etc. Anyway, we collected my step son and took him on our weekend away.
A few months after this, my husband did receive a letter from the CMS. His ex had told the CMS that my husband only has his son every other weekend (which we can prove is not true). The letter from the CMS told my husband that he needs to pay a certain amount to his ex each month, plus 20% extra.
As I said, my husband has been paying, so it's not paying that's the problem. My husband was quite pissed off by the letter and started doing some research. He quickly learned that in a 50/50 split, he actually doesn't owe anything to his ex?
Anyway, so my husband sent off all the evidence (photos, letters from school, etc.) that the mother was lying about how often he has his son. The mother then admitted that my husband has his son 50/50. However, the CMS said that he still has to pay his ex every month (which is actually lower than what he was already giving!). My husband doesn't think he should have to pay and he is appealing the CMS's decision.
The CMS have said that the appeal can take up to a year to get to the courts. They have also said that in the meantime, he will need to keep paying maintenance to his ex-wife. We asked the CMS what will happen to that money if his appeal to the CMS is successful? Will my husband automatically get the money back?
They said no. They said that if my husband's appeal is successful, he will have to pursue his ex for the money himself (with no help from the CMS!)
Is this right? It seems very unfair.