What is the point?

[mumoftwoplus1]

Today was the HM courts and tribunal appeal for my CMS case against exp who despite having a 35k car and SEVEN PROPERTIES which he rents out.....is not required to pay any child maintenance for his almost 10 year old child

I cannot believe it. I feel crushed. How could I have lost my appeal. His excuse? Well he has zero income of course, (his car and seven properties are paid for by thin air, naturally).

So what is the point of HM tribunal and court service? They have no power to do anything just like CMS have no power. What is the point in having a law which states it's illegal in the uk to not support your child financially.

Because he is not PAYE (he quit his datytime accountancy job when CMS caught up with him) he has fiddled all the numbers and has made it look like he has £1.17 of annual income I had proof of all his properties, of his very expensive car plus various other info such as when he text me to let me know he could see DC for his usual contact be asked he was off to France to see a movie and various other long haul destinations he went to (before lockdown of course)

So what now? Accept that I will never receive any financial help ever because of this flawed and useless system we have here in the UK?

Give up? Has anyone ever found themselves in this situation?

The judge was mad, being lied to by this con artist, and I got the feeling he was really frustrated at having no power to look into his finances. The advice I was given was that only HMRC have the power to look into finances...but I have contacted them many times via the fraud number and they are just not interested. The is just set up for men like him to screw over women and children amd it needs to change now!

Thank you for reading if you got this far, I really need to vent

Youngatheart00

So what is he claiming to live off?

You can have property and a nice car and zero income there are many people in this position. As long as the property is increasing in price quicker than he's spending the equity then its not a problem, he can just increase his debt.

@Skyvanilla22 was that question aimed at me? If so, he wasn't even asked what he loved off of (at least I don't remember that being asked)

It doesn't matter to them anyway. As all they can focus on is taxable income and he doesn't have that it's very frustrating!

@bp300 he has plenty of income, he went to France to catch a movie! He can just hide it very well. I'm sending an email to CMS as we speak in the Hope it gets referred to the financial investigation unit again. There's no reason why it shouldn't.

Perhaps I'll get somewhere with them. I'm surprised at how useless the HMRC tax evasion department are too. They don't seem bothered about criminal activity such as this man having already evaded tax for 20years now and going out of his way to make sure it continues for him indefinitely.

The entire thing disgusts me. There shouldn't have to be all this stress, fathers should WANT to pay for their children.
I just can't comprehend it all.
I've now had notification that my payments have stopped entirely & I don't have the mental strength to deal with it.

@Skyvanilla22 I agree completely. It's also so VERY draining! I've let him get away with it for over five years as it's taken me that long to gather the strength to deal with it. But now I have a fire in my belly and I'm going to keep going with this.

I've appealed the decision of the tribunal! they will write to me with a statement of reasons and with the help of citizens advice bureau, all I need to do is find an 'error of law'. I can't imagine it will be particularly difficult as he's very much breaking the law by evading tax! He's using loopholes to do so.

The judge in my case was really angry, I felt his arms were tied and he didn't want to make that decision but based on the rules and operating systems which govern child maintenance he had to.

If my appeal is granted, it could then go to the upper tribunal. If not, I can then apply directly to the upper tribunal myself anyway (which I will absolutely do!)

In the meantime, I've asked CMS to re-refer my case to the FIU so fingers crossed that goes ahead and they can make a start in their investigations. I'm also writing to my MP about all of this nonsense, as you say...it shouldn't be this difficult! CMS are only fit for purpose in cases regarding parents on PAYE. That's not fair and it needs to change as children of self employed parents deserve equal treatment and to no longer be disadvantaged - I want to see real change going forward, and probably won't stop until I see that happening

That's awful, OP, I'm sorry.

Does he see dc? Can you make life awkward for him in any way i.e. refusing to do pick ups or drop offs? Don't give him nice stuff for the DC?

It’s just so unfair & draining.

Do you know exactly what powers the FIU have? My ex is not self employed but working for a family friend who pays him £9k a year ‘through the books’ and the rest cash in hand resulting in me receiving a minuscule amount.

What a nightmare for you, this is so unjust and a massive loophole. I've always thought this kind of behaviour is a form of post-separation financial abuse, could a domestic abuse charity/lawyer help with this? It strikes me that the type of men who feel that they don't need to financially support their partner while in a relationship/withhold funds etc have a similar mindset to those who dodge maintenance ...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668887/child-maintenance-group-financial-investigations-unit-complex-earners-investigations.pdf

Here's an article I found which you may find useful @Skyvanilla22 When I spoke with a caseworker at CMS about what they do, I was told it's all very 'cloak and dagger' and I might get asked if I know where he goes on a daily basis so what I took from that is they probably watch those who are potentially lying about finances and look to see if their lifestyle matches up with what they say they earn. That's about all I know I'm afraid.

It's worth a try, I was asked to produce evidence and because I was able to get all the details of the properties in his name, that was enough for them to be able to take on the case. I also sent them a photo of his 35k car.

Do you know any information about his bank accounts etc? Anything at all you could produce to show he is lying about his income?

@M4J4 yes he sees DC on a weekly basis. We first went to court a few years ago when D.C. was only three because exp would on occasion refuse to bring DC back to me after contact if he saw fit to do so (I was refusing to get back with him at the time coincidence? I think not!)

I would always drop DC with him and he would bring DC back but when it got to court he was told if he wanted to see DC then it was up to him to travel to do so.

But he often asks to take DC out of school for skiing holidays in the alps, I let him do that once but it ain't happening again!

His rent/council tax & child maintenance for another child doesn’t even cover his monthly wage. He’s apparently earning £5.05 per hour. If he was earning such a low amount he’d be applying for universal credit but he’s not so....cash in hand. A 48 year old man is not working full time and earning £180 per week.

@Bedraggled2020 I have often thought about this, thank you for the reminder! I might just do that, he is always trying to change the interlocutor we have to suit him! He is often turning up early at my door trying to take DC away and when D.C. excitedly told him that they were going to be in a promotional video with me at my work and couldn't wait to do it, he got in touch with my work to say he refused to give permission for the video to go ahead. He's a complete bully