Child maintenance when self employed...he's not paying!

[userzH]

Hello,

How easy is it to get a parent (my test if an ex husband) to pay child support?

He's self employed.

I've been to cms. He should have paid his first payment plus the backdated amount on Friday. He hasn't.

I've contacted cms and they are sending him a warning letter. If he doesn't pay in 2 weeks then it will move over to 'collect and pay' which means he pays more and I get slightly less. However he still has to comply to do this and I don't think he will.

Anyone else experienced this? I feel like just giving up.

Cms have said they can use alternative routes to get him to pay but it's all making me nervous as he is abusive also. We don't speak at all so I cannot contact him about this

I wouldn't count on CMS making him pay up. My exH is employed but they still took 3 years to get him to pay anything at all.

Yeah I'm nothing out much hope. Everytime I ring them, they tell me something different.

So frustrating. Sorry you had a bad experience too

Cms are not very good in these circumstances. My ex owns 2 businesses but has them in other people's names. He's told them he earns £227 a week. They know he doesn't claim any benefits as they've checked (I'd already told them this). Yet he pays his full rent, runs a luxury car and buys the most expensive clothes! Oh and he visits his family in a different country at least 3 times a year. All this on £227 a week!
I've told cms all of this but they've checked and he's not the director of a company! So unless I have proof (which I dont) there's nothing they can do and his payments will stay the same. He pays me the minimum whilst living a luxury lifestyle.

My Daughters ex didn't pay( SE).. they actually went into his bank account and took it out and put it into my daughters.

As soon as they go self employed they'll be able to stop paying. Ex used to travel the world but because he was SE as a freelancer he could declare he only earnt 9kpa so I got about £5 a week for a few years before calling it off. If he has gone this way fight it, but be prepared that may just be how it will be for the rest of your DC's life. The system has been broken for decades.

It took me a year and a lot of perseverance to get my SE ex to pay but I got there in the end and he had to pay £4k in arrears.

In my experience, you have to fight it all the way and never give up.

BTW they have power to take away cars and passport but never use them. Someone gave them those powers and someone within CMS has decided it's better not to use them...

My ex was abusive, including financially abusive and he’s still enabled to continue the financial abuse with Cms because he’s self employed. He’s subcontracted in self employment, but he might as well be employed as his days and hours are the same every week, every month, every year. He’s on a decent wage, but child maintenance have calculated that he doesn’t have an income (apparently earns less than £7 a week), and is not on benefits so they calculate that he doesn’t have to pay.

I really don’t know why they don’t investigate properly. I’ve tried multiple appeals and tribunal and getting nowhere. How can they see that a person has no income, no benefits but not investigate how they’re living.

it’s been the same way for years because my mum had my biological dad quit a job every time he had to pay and go cash in had to avoid paying and child maintenance refused to do anything then. There really does need to be a massive overhaul with people in self employment and messing with their tax returns to avoid paying and people working cash in hand to avoid paying need to be investigated or at the very least measures put in place so it doesn’t happen.

Yes they keep telling me they can freeze his bank account if he doesn't pay. It just seems all talk though. I'll keep fighting but just not get my hopes up. He sees ds 1 day every other weekend for now but doesn't bother with him otherwise. It breaks my heart

My ex also sub contracts him self out so his tax is paid by his mate he works for. The last financial year he earned a decent amount - nowhere near the actual true earnings though - he's on 1k a week after tax and last year it went through at 27k.

I just have to realise he's a dead beat dad at the end of the day.

It's unlikely they have the main bank account though - that's how they hide all the income from CMS and the taxman.

@userzH yes, and the men who help these guys are just as culpable.

Yeah, the business my ex works for is owned by his dad’s best friend. So it’s obviously dodgy.

It’s embarrassing for them that they don’t want to do what’s in the best interest of their children. And it’s disgusting that companies like the CMS enable their behaviour

I thought this. I could give them his bank details as it used to be my bank account before we turned it into a joint one. Then had to get it frozen in order for me to get myself off it 🙄

It's just a waiting game. I think I'm just realising more and more than he isn't going to stand up and do anything.

Somene at cms did tell me that I could be paid from his earnings and I thought the only way they could do that was to deduct it from his tax - they said that would be very expensive for him.

But they don't know his real earnings and tax - these men don't usually pay full tax on what they earn because so much of it has to go under the radar. It screws everyone because of their greed.