Child maintenance service

[Wonkydonkey44]

My ex husband earns a good wage , the child maintenance service say £800 a week and that’s just what he’s declared to the tax office . I suspect he earns much more due to his life style.

He is currently £1000’s in arrears child maintenance. We were on direct pay but he was only paying me £20 a week and the cms have said it should more.

We’ve just had another annual review and they’ve told me what to expect moving forward but currently have only had a quarter of what was due last year . He’s self employed and takes dividends and the Cms have an order against him now and have found out where all his bank accounts are but still nothing .

I’ve rung the Cms and they say they will contact me when they have anything to tell me but to be honest I’m pretty desperate at this point .

Does anyone have any recommendations of things I can actively do as waiting patiently for them is slowly getting me into debt .

Thanks

Not a parent however I’ve watched my own mother go through the same.

Everything that you buy those children, write it down, how much it cost you ( I’m not talking food more so stuff they need for school etc)

Check in with him weekly and say hi btw when can I expect some money through because .....

Keep on at CMS and I mean it too

Don’t let him live in luxury when you can’t afford shite

Good luck OP. Similar situation to you, no maintenance for 5.5 years and currently owed thousands. The CMS have a date for the second liability order now. The second one was granted in October last year but until I chased 2 weeks ago, it hadn’t been passed for bailiff action! Be prepared for a long wait, plenty of chasing and no guarantees of any money. Good luck.

I meant to say, the FIRST liability order was granted in October last year.

Phone them EVERY DAY - it’s draining but my experience is that CM need pushed at every step. Do not be fobbed off by being told to be patient - ask about the process, his responses, timescales. I’ve literally had to phone every month to chase the payment. It’s gone as far as threatening wages arrestment and then miraculously he finds the lump sum. I would be ashamed if I was a ‘parent’ like that.

Agree with the posters above. You will have to phone them every day and when they say they are contacting your ex you phone CMS to see if they made contact. Don’t be fobbed off with “we tried to get a hold of him” and “we sent him a text.” And he doesn’t respond to either so you’re no further forward. Not good enough!

Write everything down - and chase them on whatever action they say they are going to take.
I’m at the point now where I ask “What date did you actually speak to him? What date was that letter sent out (the letter I was told would be automatically sent two weeks ago, but hasn’t been sent yet.)

It is infuriating, but you really need to be persistent. In extreme circumstances the CMS have sanctions they can use as well - through the courts they can ban the NRP from driving or six weeks in jail.

www.childsupportlaws.co.uk is good for information.

Good luck OP. Phone them every day and try and get whoever is dealing with your case to phone you back. As far as I can make out these cases are assigned to different people who don’t normally answer the phones.

Hi OP - I have, sadly, 5 years experience of chasing the CSA and now CMA. EXH is £7k in arrears..... I would echo PP's - make noise and a lot of it and document everything. It's draining and time consuming but will hopefully be worth it in the end.

Good luck

I’d just get them to take it out of his wages each month

The CMS increasingly use deduction orders from bank accounts but for obvious reasons will not share this information with either parent until the money has been taken.

What a simple solution Emza! Why didn’t we think of that?!

Another voice saying you have to be persistent. I have zero Child Maintenance, ex is a high earner. I'm owed thousands in arrears.
Get in touch with the CM complaints department, it might get things moving quicker. Good luck.

I don't think writing down lists of what you've spent on the children serves any purpose, I know you meant well with that suggestion, Blank, but it isn't as simple as 'not letting him live in luxury' because the system is what it is at the moment ie a shit one.

Parents with the responsibilities of caring for their children go into debt doing so while the absent parent quite often lives in luxury. No amount of lists will change that, even for the basics of food & a roof over the heads of said children.