My friend has a mescher order , can she reduce the final amount to be paid if he neglects to pay maintenance ?

[Molly333]

My best friend has four children and really struggles financially ( he hasn't paid maintenance of 500 a month for four years, self employed blah blah blah). My question is can she reduce the amount due to him as he owes her so much? If so how? Any help desperately needed please

Unfortunately, no. Child maintenance and the Mesher are dealt with separately.

No, She can't.

And I'm afraid she cannot do much about child maintenance either if he is self employed.

So unfair , she has four children and is struggling so much and he does nothing :( thanks got your help though

It is unfair, however If she doesn't have a case with the CSA she may contact CMO (cmoptions.org) and ask about cm collection service. This means that she needs to pay a small amount of the collected maintenance in order to get it (and the other parent will be forced to pay extra to cover his part of the service), but less is better than nothing.

Having said that, the problem with self employed people is that they can hide their real earnings very easily, so it may be that she stills get nothing. (I wonder when they will be finally forced to show their P60s)