Child Maintenance enforcement - what is realistic?

[innistree]

This is genuinely about a friend.

A friend has recently discovered that there is an open CMS claim against him and that arrears have built up for child maintenance relating to his biological child. For reasons I won't go into in detail, this was not something he was aware of previously, and there is no moral failing on his side. He spent much of the last decade outside the UK, and when he was here his address changed frequently, so correspondence did not reach him.

He is currently not in paid employment and has a number of physical and mental health conditions which make work difficult or unlikely. CMS appear to have applied the default rate of £38 per week during all previous years, without his knowledge, and ridiculous £££ arrears have accumulated as a result.

He has now received a letter threatening enforcement action, including possible driving licence disqualification and the use of bailiffs.

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience of this from the receiving or paying side. I have a lot of sympathy for those affected by non-payment, and I'm absolutely not looking to argue the principle, but I'm trying to understand what enforcement action is realistically taken in practice and over what sort of timescale.

So did he also recently find out that he had a child?
Surely he must have noticed not paying for his child for a decade?

So he hasn’t paid anything for his child?

He will need to evidence his addresses outside of the UK (as he may have been out of this jurisdiction) and therefore this will be deducted.

This is the same for being unemployed.

For clarity, in this case it is "mothers" (of the same child) not "mother". I hope that sufficiently explains the situation.

How long has he been out of work for? If he has evidence can he try and get the amount adjusted? But in reality, this can’t be a surprise if he wasn’t paying maintenance, what else did he think would happen?

Why would that explain it?

How on earth does that explain anything?

Sperm donor - maybe unofficially

Unless he's literally only just found out that he has a child, then he has the huge moral failing of having a child he doesn't see or contribute to.

Yes. Informal agreement, not registered.

I doubt you'll get any practical information/sympathy for your friend regarding this, as it is scummy to have a child, regardless of where you live, and not contribute in any way towards their upbringing.

He needs to find a way to pay, as the mother of his child has been paying in all ways for years it seems. Unless he was in a coma, there is no reason for him to shirk responsibility.

Tell him to step up and pay, even if that means he goes without!

Sorry, absolutely NO sympathy from me on this one abd certainly no information to dodge paying

That’s one assumption but there are several.

You don't consider that a moral failing?

£38pw = £1976 pa

If he wasn’t earning then first step I would take is to prove it to reduce the total.

There are men out there who owe more than your friend so I wouldn’t worry about real punishment like prison if that’s what he’s thinking.

if he was on benefits then he’s owe £7pw divided by all his kids.

Of course he owes CM!!

Clearly OPs friend donated sperm to a possibly a lesbian couple and they had a child. If he had gone down an official route he would be protected but possibly he didnt?

At the time were there any signed documents, any legal involvement? I'm assuming the mothers are in the UK?

So he knew she could claim maintenance then, so it’s still not really a surprise is it. More fool him

"there is no moral failing on his side" .....so he's been paying CM* *the whole time then? Sending money from abroad - you know to support his child?
Your friend's best bet is to engage fully with the CMS asap. He needs to contact them and provide proof of where he was living and income for the whole period the CMS are asking him to support his child for. In turn the CMS will recalculate the arrears owed and he can then arrange to pay what he owes as even those on benefits have to pay something.
It's also odd that now enforcement action is threatened, he has 'suddenly' received CMS correspondence - at a time that he has no income and is 'ill'?
If you are actually his friend then advise him to do the right thing. If this person is your new partner then, quite honestly, run for the hills - he is not a decent man.

Helping someone have a child they could not otherwise biologically have due to their sexual orientation may carry personal risks and require caution, but it is not, in my view, morally questionable.

Basically he needs to make contact with the enforcement agents and let them work out what he can reasonably afford on whatever 'income' he has. If he 'can't' interact with them for whatever reason then someone else can on his behalf. They will do an assessment of what money he has coming in from whatever source and put in place a repayment plan, which will then just go out by direct debit. Should he default then action will restart. If he ignores the enforcement they'll just carry on and he'll end up with bailiffs walking in and doing an inventory of his belongings, or they will do a direct attachment to his benefits/earnings (whichever applies) at the rate they've decided to get it paid back. Ignoring it will not make it go away so even if he contacts Step Change or similar they can help him resolve this .

In the circumstances, I would suggest he takes immediate legal advice and engage with the CMS.

Creating a child that you don't intend to see is always morally questionable.