Consent Order after 12 months

[Da1sycha1n]

Really hope someone can help with this please.

Exh and I settled our divorce and had a Consent Order signed off by a judge in February 2016. Part of the agreements were £x child maintenance per month per child paid to me until the child is 18.

I received an email the other day, a few days after the maintenance was due saying 'as we've now reached the end of the twelve month maintenance as agreed by the court I am reducing the maintenance by £300 per month. If you're not happy with this I will go down the CMS route and you'll get even less".

I replied saying I didn't agree and it was a breach of the Court Order. There's been no material/economic change to his circumstances and I genuinely believed the Consent Order would remain in place for the future.

It seems to me now that he only ever intended to pay the agreed amount for 12 months, although he signed a statement of facts saying he'd pay until they were 18.

He paid nothing on the day the maintenance was due and has only just paid the lesser amount now. He now intends to self refer to the CMS for a review.

Any advice about what - if anything - I can do.

Thanks

he is correct that the court general only has jurisdiction over child maintenance (as opposed to spousal ) for one year. after the year he can apply to the cms for a reassessment. he has to apply for them to reassess though he can't just reduce the payments otherwise he will be liable for arrears.

www.ellisonssolicitors.com/news/latest/child_maintenance_and_the_12_month_rule

The consent order remains enforceable until the CMS have reassessed.

Did you also get nominal spousal maintenance?

Thanks for your replies. I thought this was the case so was half expecting him to apply for a reduction but not to just stop paying. He also only paid 11 of the 12 months.

I didn't get spousal, just child maintenance.

What evidence will he have to supply to get a reduction please?

I'm annoyed at the whole 'now the year's done' attitude, as though he never had any intention of paying the agreed amount for longer than a year.

The money incidentally only pays for the children's travel to and from him EOW, he expects me to pay all of it and has never contributed to it.

Hi OP. I know this is an old thread but I am in exactly the same situation as you and wondered if you had any advice for me?

Last Wednesday I received an email out of the blue from my ex to say he'd spoken to a solicitor and to the CMS and will be reducing his maintenance from the consent order amount to the CMS amount from next month, meaning £400/mth less. I had no idea he could do this and my solicitor did not warn me this could happen, but now confirms it is legal.

Any advice?

The awful thing is that he walked away with a larger share of the equity in the house in order to help him to set up somewhere new for the kids (money I borrowed on my mortgage and from my parents), and I was to receive higher maintenance amount so I could afford to keep the family home... but now he's allowed to just scrap his side of the deal whilst keeping all his extra equity in his pocket. It's so wrong. I feel like he's stolen from me and his children.

His situation hasn't changed and he earns a very good wage. He lives alone and I know that can be expensive, but he is driving round a brand new mercedes... He certainly isn't poverty stricken.

It was his affair that landed us in this situation in the first place.

exactly the same happened to me - Ex wrote the same letter to me 1 year to the day saying he would not be paying and he opened a case with the CSA. In fact since that point he has been doing everything in his power not to pay, has challenged and appealed every decision reached by the CSA it is so frustrating as I never seem to reach a point where I have an amount locked in stone. His MO is to do everything in how power to punish me without realising it also impacts his kids

Did your solicitors,not advise you about the 12 month rule? Seems slightly neglectful if you were not told but assume you missed it with other issues ongoing

Hi Marie. No. Absolutely not. Had I even had a whiff of it there's no way I would have borrowed on my mortgage for him. She now says " I will have told you" ....but she can't evidence it because she didn't. Some friends have advised me to sue for misrepresentation, bit I don't know where that would get me 😟

Sorry you're going through the same Lorry. Wish they would see it's about the kids 😒

I wasn't at all aware of this - no wonder my STBX was offering me an amount £400 in excess of what he had to - all part of a master plan I bet - I will keep to the CMS amount and go for additional equity. Thanks for the heads up and sorry your exes are being so bl**dy difficult!

There is a maximum level of income that CMS is dealing with. If your ExH is above that level - than you can apply to court for a top-up of the maintenance.
He also can’t arbitrarily reduce the payments without the CMS review completing.

Will I get a notification from the CMS that the review is complete?

Thanks

At least I've helped someone! It's awful that this issue isn't highlighted more so people don't fall in to this trap. Good luck with everything x