Avoiding child maintenance

[Dogscanteatonions]

Exh is now CEO of a company, he's not paid the right level of CM for over a year but I let it go for an easy life as he's not exactly easy to deal with.

I've suggested we go via the child maintenance service but he says he can change the way he gets paid (basically take home less and instead get other benefits)

The implication is if I don't agree a sum privately (which I guarantee won't be what he should be paying) and go through the CMS he will arrange his salary in a way to avoid paying as much.

So wondering if anyone has any idea if he can do this? He has a history of thisb sorry if thing when owning his own businesses but he's employed now

If you go after him hard he will only become more adept at hiding his money. Don't go after him at all but write everything down, figure out what he's up to and then you can decide what to do with this information at your leisure.
He's being strategic and looking after his interests, you should do the same.

One of the mums at dc school had this. She told everyone- friends, acquaintances, his family, the school, his colleagues. Tbf there wasnt much of a relationship to destroy and she did destroy it but he became (and still is) the town shit which upset him greatly and did squeeze a bit more money out of him.

I think it really does depend on the way the company is structured. If he's CEO of a small company and basically controls things, he might be able to make it work. If he's CEO of a big company, that's a different story and there's only so much flex in a salary.

Also, depending on the job etc, I'd expect the CEO to be thinking about how he is perceived.

Why not discuss it privately. see what he offers. If, as you assume, it's as bad as you think, then you have very little to lose by at least trying to fight it.