child maintenance consent order question

[polly001]

My ex decided stop paying me child maintenance for a month when our youngest son left college (he started again though this month). In the meantime he paid our son £50 a week which he gave me in keep. now my ex says that he wont pay me the money he owes me (£600 for a month) as he says i should have paid him some maintenance when our older son stayed with him for a year when he was 16 and at college. Could I approach the court to force him to pay me the £600? Can he off-set the £200 he paid our son for that month?

Thanks

How old is your son now and is he living with you?

Strictly speaking the terms of a court stand until the court varies the order, either party applies to the CSA or the order expires. When the circumstances changed and your son lived with your ex it was open to your ex to have applied to the CSA, the order would have ceased to have effect and he could have claimed Child Benefit, child maintenance from you and Working Families Tax Credits.

Having said that, he has no right to decide unilaterally to stop complying with the order. Consent orders are usually worded along the lines that maintenance is paid to a parent for the benefit of a child so he wasn't entitled to reduce the amount paid to give to your son and arrears of child support can be enforced through the courts like any other debt.

Before shooting off to court though it's worth checking the exact terms of the order and trying to negotiate. It does seem your ex has behaved quite reasonably in the past and not claimed all he could have. Perhaps if you can afford it a compromise is called for. Going to court can be very destructive and damage long term family relationships which isn't in your son's interests.

There's now an insurance which would cover this sort of thing but I think if you already have problems, they probably won't cover you.

www.MaintenanceAssist.co.uk

Didn't you pay him when your son stayed there for a year? Did you also give him the child benefit money and tax credits etc for him?