To expect ex to still pay maintenance for the kids whilst I was im hospital

[Amblu81]

So I fractured my leg slipping down a step a few weeks ago. Complete freak accident, no alcohol involved, injury sustained includes shsttered tibia and fibia. It required surgery and an inpatient stay of 4 nights. The ex had our 2 kids for 5 nights in total and feels that this means he shouldn't have to pay their maintenance for that week. Note the following:
*we havent gone through CSA..came to private agreement with mediator
*he has them 2 nights at the weekend, I get them one weekend a month and have them the other 5 nights.
*Eldest DS chooses to spend 6 nights with me instead of 5 as he feels comfier at mine. I felt a bit petty asking for the extra money for 1 child, 1 extra night, so I didnt.
*Maintenance to go towards kids food, uniform, clubs etc.
*He has not agreed to pay any of the £600 holiday childcare I forked out for via a child voucher scheme, taken from my work wages. I wouldn't even expect him to pay 50% as it is taken from my salary throughout the year prior to tax.

I feel he should cough up!! He really doesnt. Next week he takes them on holiday for a week and again refusing to pay. I am moving back into our jointly owned property for some respite as negotiating a 2 storey flat above a shop on crutches/wheelchair is pretty damn exhausting. I was going to give half the maintenance back to cover gas/electric during my stay...but nope, he is refusing to let me have a penny anyway.

I would love to hear your thoughts as he is making me doubt what is reasonable. Fyi...he pays £75 pw towards the kids.

I would see a solicitor and get your half of the house at least - you may be awarded much more. It is a risk and he will minimise his earnings but he’s bein a skinflint now anyway. You must find it really hard to plan and bills will go up massively soon.

Op you have nothing to apologise for. The vast majority of your ongoing costs for the kids are not reduced this week. 5 days of kids food is not much and you are bearing the massive brunt of all the costs associated with them. What maintenance is "for" is not clearly defined anywhere..I think the CMS says "a contribution toward essentials" which is deliberately vague and does noone any favours. He's a cock, but I'm sure you already know that and it sounds like at least one of your kids is cottoning on too.

He's a petty tight fisted cunt

I would look at forcing the sale of the family home at this point.

Maybe look up what he would owe in what he is currently taking as the minimum? Is it more or less than he is paying now?
Then take the higher amount.

I would speak to your ex and gently point that to deduct 1 week from a £300 month payment is very tight indeed for 2 children. I suspect he should be paying you more. Tbh is he's going to stoop that low you can contact CMS and get a child agreement in place from the Courts which is legally binding!

That's a load of tosh!
Maintainence is to cover not just the children's immediate needs (food, clothing) but to also contribute to the costs of running the home.

It's also not true that maintainence isn't due if he has them more than 52 nights a year, it's just reduced slightly.
It's only not paid if both parties have 50/50.

Legal aid is only available for family cars in cases of proven domestic abuse.
i dont think he should of had to pay you for a period of time in which he had the children.

Hard one as he self employed and he has had the children for more that week. Sadly you won't get legal aid unless he abused you. Just be glad he an ex. You need to sort the family home out .. starting point is 50:50. Hope you feeling better x

Sounds like it's time to get the house sold so you can access your share of the equity.

You need advice, go to Citizens Advice, surely you need to sell the jointly owned house and divide up the assets.

@Babyghirl "it's a known fact that CM is not to pay the rent.. and is not to benefit the mother"

What a load of bollocks. Unless, of course, the children are happy to be kept warm and fed but live outside? Otherwise I'm fairly certain the mother's rent/mortgage costs involve the children.

He sounds like a cheap, petty, controlling bastard. But then, you probably knew that already.

He absolutely should pay the full amount of child support, and to refuse makes him a petty, nasty piece of shit. There’s not much you can do about it however, other than to remember this the next time he requires any kind of leeway on his end. Fucking prick.

Hes's full of 💩, OP; as it @Babyghirl.

Really hope you are in not in too much pain and that the Summer gets better for you.

X

Does he pay you rent for your share of the house that he lives in?

Amen to that.

It honestly astounds me when someone can talk with such conviction that they’re correct when they most definitely aren’t. It’s quite a talent.

He is being a CF, especially as he won’t declare his earnings to you etc.

Just go via CMS.

Well pretty much everything you've written there is WRONG.

The only thing you have correct is that it is the op's job to sort childcare during her time with the children.

Everything else? Wrong.

I would be forcing sale of the house at this point.

CM is calculated on an average over the year (eg I live 350+ miles from ds’s dad, so he would have him for 8 weeks of the school holidays per year, but not at all in term time.. he still paid the same weekly / monthly amount as any other NRP who had the dc 52-100 days per year, including making payments on ‘his’ weeks). So unfortunately your ex is taking the p*ss. In your shoes I’d be taking legal advice and forcing the sale of the house.

@Amblu81 have the businesses been set up as limited companies with Companies House? If so you should be able to see his annual accounts. This will show the businesses income, costs profit and dividends. Take this to a solicitor with all your other paperwork and initiate a divorce and push for as much as you can get.

He isn't a good father as you have the children for most of the time and he has forced you and them into a flat. If he truly had the best interests of the children at heart he would have allowed you to stay in the family home with them, as this would be where they spend most of their time.

He still needs to pay. Your household costs don’t go down because you were in hospital, do they?

Don't go through CMS. It's not fit for purpose especially with self employed NRP! My ex is self employed, they have his income (he is not clever enough to hide it like other self employed NRPs) so he is assessed to pay £200 a month. He hasn't paid for 7 months since it went up from £100 a month as he says he can't afford it. He paid £22 in March and that is all in 7 months. What have CMS done? Nothing. Have reported him and they don't even get back to me.

Self employed means they can't do an attachment of earnings, y

He is very pretty, the days should average over the year. Tell him he has to pay more when you have them for the whole week. And sort out the house, you are entitled to your half. Sounds like you need to start sticking up for yourself.