Child maintenance

[Jennysbrood]

Sorry to post here but I need advice and many other boards are quiet.

My ex has been lying about his income for the 5 years I have received child maintenance from him. The initial calculation was correct but he changed his job a month later and didn’t tell me his income tripled. He has kept it quiet until now where I have accidentally seen a wage slip.

I plan to confront him and claim maintenance ‘properly’ as we currently do it privately without a third party. This will put me at risk of further DV acts when he knows but my children deserve the money they are entitled to and I can’t ignore it.

My question is, will the child maintenance services charge him for the owed amounts since we split? Or will they only pay from today? Will he need to provide wage slips for the entire 5 years or is there a limit to when I can ask for backdating? Will he be expected to continue paying maintenance while the claim is pending as I read it can take 2-3 months for the first payment?

I’d like to get the facts before I jump into the deep end as I’m scared of his reaction and the chance he will stop paying altogether.

It will go from the day you claim.
They will go by his end of year earnings from the previous tax year and isnre calculated each year

The whole point of CMS is to avoid confrontation. Just let them do it - no confrontation required.

Thank you I’m just worried about not receiving anything while I wait for it to be processed as I’m already struggling a lot

Is it worth asking him first - I know he sounds unreasonable but yes he probably will stop paying in the time it takes to claim and if he wants to get out of it he'll manage for a good while. Took 2 years to get a Deduction of earnings set up on my exp during which time he paid not a penny at which point he changed jobs and went self employed- the £7k arrears ended up wiped too. Mention you know and ask if you can come to an arrangement outside of CMS first as they are a nightmare of a service outside of an ex who happily just follows their instruction to pay

I mention the self employed part as then he could claim he was making zero income and was ordered to pay £5pw 🙄.

That’s awful, some men are despicable. My ex is this sort of person and I’m sure he would change his job to a basic minimum wage role to avoid paying me more than he currently does. He wouldn’t do it willingly as he’s withheld it from me on purpose.

I wonder if the threat of CMS would make him up it even a bit? He might not yet know how easy it is to avoid and think he's better off just giving you a bit extra - any extra for you is better than what you get now or none if you pursue it and he kicks back and he'll still get the satisfaction of knowing he's paying less than he should. It's awful but for me the stress of dealing with CMS just wasnt worth it with a man like this. I still get a feeling of dread every time I have to use my NI number as it reminds me of all the phone calls made to them during that time.

Why don't you get a job with triple your salary?

Well she could but that has not bearing on the fact her ex should be financially supporting his child(ren).