Howto go about getting Maintance from self employed company director?

[Loloseagreen]

I split from my husband 2 years ago and we are now divorced. He runs a limited company as he is an IT contactor. I have been stuggling to get any maintance payments from him during the last year and am now thinking about collecting through the csa instead. I feel he uses money as a way of keeping some control over me and I want to put some healthy boundaries in place. It was a EA marriages and he has been pretty horrible to me recently.

My worry is if I pass this to the csa he only takes a small salary the rest is in dividends so he will only end up paying a tiny amount which seems so unfair. Is this the case?

The CMS will do a calculation based on information from HMRC. This will usually be from his tax return. They will then inform you of this calculation.

If you feel this is low and that they haven't included his dividends then you can ask for a variation where they will then look further into his accounts etc. But this can only be done after they have made their initial calculation.

I am in the same boat and opened a case with CMS last week. You need to ask for direct payments, not family based arrangement which is where you agree an amount between yourselves. I felt I needed someone official to look at his income and make the decision as to what he needed to pay as he has been paying voluntarily since he left at Christmas but has now stopped.

Hope that helps 😊

Is there a financial order in place? What does it say about child and spousal maintenance?

Hi - Thank you. No we don't have a financial order - we got a financial settlement when we split to divide our assets but didn't include child access or maintenance. My ex has gradually reduced what he is willing to pay and then stopped completely last Autumn. Initially he was very generous and I think he thought we would end up getting back together (despite me being adamant we wouldn't!) He's dreadful with money so he's spending way beyond his means and he seems to only be willing to pay towards the kids if he has spare money rather than reigning back his lifestyle. It was also a bit of an EA marriage and I feel like he enjoys me chasing him up for maintenance as he still has an element of control over me. I'm gutted as I wanted to have a civil relationship for the sake of the kids and it hasn't worked out. He also stopped seeing them I think because he knows he's in the wrong about not paying and it breaks my heart as they are quiet young and want to know why they can't see him. I think going down the CSM route will antagonise him but I don't think I have any other choice for the sake of my sanity!