CMS - any point chasing?

[icameonholidaybyaccident]

My ex and I have a court order he breached nearly a year ago on the basis that he was made redundant from his over half a million quid a year job. He has hundreds of thousands in the bank. It’s in the court system now. According to the CMS, he should be paying me around £1200 pm a month which he obviously hasn’t been doing. Does anyone have experience of this kind of thing and knows if it’s worth me asking the CMS to switch me to the system where they collect on my behalf and then asking them to pursue him for the arrears and continuing maintenance on the basis of him having always had ample resources to pay this (even if he’s refusing to work)? I have read that they can ‘impute’ a level of income he’s capable of earning and order him to pay on that basis. Or should I just leave the CMS out of it and let the court decide? Thanks.

Yes. Do it. I had to. It takes time but if he’s a not paying this is what this system is for. He will still have arrears that they can colllect too.

If he has no income all you get is cms based on 8% interest on money he has in the bank. Courts don’t have jurisdiction over cms after 12 months. Worth pursuing with cms but they won’t enforce the amount awarded when he was earning. They’ll assess it on his income now which is nil so good had to try to get based off interest

Yes i’d absolutely use CMS. Pretty disgusting (but not surprising) he isn’t using savings to pay for his child.

CMS is also from the day you put the call in. No back dating claims

I assume given he had a very high salary that you agreed child support in court as the CMS wouldn’t deal with this type of case and you would hit their ceiling.

If he now isn’t working then his initial assessment would not be £1200. You could get a variation based on his capital (money in the bank). That would assume an income from this capital. There are exclusions to the calculation. For example if he intends to or has used the money to buy a property to live in.

As you have court proceedings in process you should consult with your lawyer. He may be able to advise on which process to follow and whether you can pursue two at the same time. Generally legal proceedings don’t allow two bites of the same cherry at the same time.