Hello and thanks for reading this thread. I’ve name changed and posting here more for the traffic but in summary my AIBU would be to wonder and be concerned about what my ex is up to as there’s got to be more to this than meets the eye…
I’ve found myself in an odd situation regarding child maintenance and I’m keen to hear people’s thoughts on the matter. If anyone has been through similar it would be great to hear what the outcome was too.
For background, ex and I split 7yrs ago and share one DC. Very acrimonious break-up which involved DV on his part and we’ve been unable to co-parent amicably due to his ongoing poor behaviour.
Ex is self-employed and messed me around maintenance-wise when we first split. I went to the CMS and have received a stupidly low amount ever since. I’ve queried this several times over the years with the CMS and their response was always the amount would stay as-is so I never took it any further.
Until last year. I raised a case with the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) as the amount of maintenance set by the CMS yet again wasn’t reflective of my ex’s lifestyle - think luxury house and vehicles, multiple 5* holidays each year, Rolex watches and expensive gifts/days out for DC etc.
They discovered a significant amount of unearned income over the period of 2yrs which was not included in any maintenance calculations.
They directed a new amount of maintenance which should have started during summer last year. My ex chose to ignore this and instead continued to pay me via direct debit.
I then opted to move from DirectPay to CollectPay as this meant the CMS could recover the arrears of several thousand pounds on my behalf.
Payments via this method never materialised and my ex continued to pay the usual low amount via direct debit.
Towards the back end of last year, my ex advised me he was appealing the FIU decision as the variation he’d sought after the initial outcome was unsuccessful. I’ve since received the tribunal evidence bundle and submitted my own evidence and we’re at the stage of waiting for a hearing date although I’ve been informed this could take over a year.
The CMS have also said they’re unable to take any further action until the appeal has concluded.
Here’s where it gets interesting…just after Christmas we had the usual annual review and the weekly amount my ex is liable to pay for the next year had increased by nearly 50%.
Bear in mind though that there are still the arrears of several thousand pounds which hadn’t been paid.
My ex advised via email that he’d spoken to his bank and I’d receive the new weekly maintenance amount from X date. Not long after this, I started receiving an amount each week which is a lot higher than the new amount set by the CMS.
Payments over the last couple of months have knocked a large chunk of the arrears off and I’m now left wondering what is going on and how this could play out in terms of the appeal.
CMS are aware of the situation and continue to say there is nothing they can do until the appeal is heard in court.
Questions I’m asking myself are why would he pay over and above what he should be paying if there is an ongoing appeal case which he instigated?! He has legal representation - could he have been advised this is the best way to proceed for him?
Would the fact he’s now paying a much higher amount be looked upon favourably/unfavourably by the judge? And when this does eventually reach court, is there a chance the outcome would be there is no case and I’d need to repay the maintenance?
My ex is not a reasonable person and has tried continuously over the years to make my life as miserable as possible. Why then, would he now be paying this extra money before the appeal hearing, when previously he’s gone out of his way to withhold maintenance and hide his income?
I’d welcome your thoughts and experience around this and thanks again for reading.