ex has made himself director of his company to avoid paying maintenance.

[sianyc18]

For the last two years exh has declared his earnings as nil to the csa.He was previously a police officer so the payment was taken directly from his wages. He goes on holiday owns three cars and has a very nice house with his new wife.They see dd 3 times a year for a total of 15 days totally their choice as they feel the drive of 3 hrs each way limits them.He contributes nothing at all towards the upkeep of dd who is 11.I work full time and am still waiting 3 years later to be housed so am private renting at the moment which takes up nearly two thirds of my income. Is there any way of making him help at all?

Have you asked for a contribution from his Pension Fund?

Has he collected his Lump Sum from his Police Service yet? Ask your Solicitor to file papers requesting the Court to award you a proportion of his Lump Sum from his Police Pension.

with exh on your behalf. I would go to CAB / the CSA and see what they say. I find it hard to believe that declarations on income to the CSA can exclude dividends (I assume exh pays himself zero salary and healthy dividends instead). If this loop hole really does exist then I feel doubly with the system, as well as exh. sorry I'm not much use...

ok, just been googling. according to p46 of this csa leaflet they don't normally take dividends into account - unless the parent with care asks them to. sounds to me like you need to explore this. get on the phone to csa and see what you need to do.

see also page 29-30 where it says they will "look again" if the NR parent controls their income eg through dividends

It is NO good dealing with the CSA over the phone. You need to put it in writing.

Thanks for the advice.I had rung the CSA and was told if he earns nothing he pays nothing which was useful.Will try stating case in writing what is more frustrating is he thinks he is dad of the year criticising the way I bring her up and truly thinks that a fiver in her birthday card is sufficient. God knows what he thinks I feed and clothe her with!!

Hi,

Unfortunately you may not get very far. I've had a similar situation with my DSs' father. The CSA told me that they were not an investigatory body and had to take the fathers word on wether he pays himself dividends or not. They wouldn't even accept me sending them a copy of his end of year accounts that clearly state himself and his business partner received dividends. It's appaling. He pays £16 per week for his twin boys & yet he travels all over the world, always dressed well, drives a top of the range Landrover, etc, etc.

I simply try to hold my head up high & get on with things.

If it is a limited company then you can get his accounts from companies house for a couple of quid. This will show dividends paid. Only thing is it will be out of date as normally you have 9 months from the end of the company's financial year to fle.