Any recourse when ex has taken child benefit ?

[StandingAtTheBackLookingStupid]

My dsis has just found out that her exh has taken half of the child benefit that was in an account in their ds's name, that they were both Trustess of, has she any chance of getting it back ?

They are divorced and she has just had to get the CSA involved as he wouldn't pay maintenance for the children and he has started being verbally abusive as he thinks he is being 'robbed' and has now taken this money in retaliation and sent her a nasty letter telling her, amongst other things, that she is lucky he didn't take it all.

The only amounts going into the account are the CB amounts, so it is obvious that is all that is in the account. My dsis works full time and although they both have parental responsibility she is the primary carer. They have 2 children who only occasionally stay with their father.

Does she have any hope of getting this money back ?

Was the child benefit paid directly to the account? The DWP/HMRC/whoever administers it these days may be interested to know.

He was very silly to admit it in a letter - useful evidence for your sister! Is it possible to freeze the account?

Sorry I can't be more helpful but didn't want this to go unanswered.

Thanks for taking time to reply Mumi. Yes the cb was paid directly into the account. My dsis had asked him to sign a form to take himself off the account, which I think was what alerted him to the fact that the money was there. She has done without herself to keep that money for her kids and he has just taken half of it to fritter away. She was daft to keep it in an account he had access to, I know, but they had been fairly amicable until the maintenance issue and she had thought he was trustworthy

I have already advised her to contact the CSA to inform them that he has had this extra money but she doesn't think they will be interested.

She has been so reasonable with him over the finances - too reasonable really { got a loan and paid him a lump sum so she could stay in the house and has not pushed for any portion of his pension }and now he is actually having to pay a proper amount of maintenance he has started being aggressive.

As a trustee he is required to manage the funds in the bank account for the benefit of your son. Taking funds out because he doesn't thinks he should have to pay maintenance is a clear failure to meet his responsibilities.

If there is a significant amount of money involved your sister should consult a solicitor.

Thanks for your reply. prh47bridge.

I think I may have misused the term Trustee - it is how my dsis originally described the situation but when I pressed her for more detail, she said the account { held at a building society } was just held jointly by her and her exh, but in their ds's name as he was too young to have an account on his own.

I will check the details again with her tomorrow though, just to be sure what the situation is.

He has taken £1200 which is a lot of money and is cb that she had managed to save after they had separated.

it hink the letter is key here as to what happens and whether she can get it back. she needs to speak to solicitor.

but at the end of the day, if they both trustees they can effectively do what they like with the money eg he could say he took it out for his DS (even if he didnt).

but if he saying in the letter explicitly he took it for himself then there may be some room to ask for it back?

it shoudl be taken itno accoutnin dovorce settlemetn -but at the end of teh dya he might be able to aargue it was half his - because CB is paid to the parents anyway.

how long since they first separated??

Thanks for the replies.

Cestlavielife, you are right that the letter is key in this as my dsis went into the building society yesterday and took the letter in - apparently he had admitted in the letter that he had lied to the Building Society that he had lost the passbook, in order to get the money. My dsis has the passbook which she took in, together with the form he had signed and dated, agreeing to be taken off the account. The date he had put on the form was prior to the date he went in and took the money out.

The Building Society are now looking into whether lying about the passbook and taking money out after agreeing to be taken off the account might constitute fraud. It is hard to believe that he would be so stupid as to admit all this in a letter - he sent the letter to try and upset my dsis as it was really nasty, but when you know that he is a solicitor it is beyond barmy !

They separated at least three years ago SprinleDust so all the money in the account was accrued after that. For some reason this account wasn't included in the divorce settlement - possibly because it is in the ds's name ?

At least there is now some hope that dsis might get the money back. Maybe the threat that things will be taken further might make him give it back.

For a solicitor to do something like this and admit it is incredibly stupid - almost on a par with the idiots who appear in the Darwin awards. Hope your sister gets the money back quickly.

Thanks prh. Yes he has been incredibly stupid, especially for a solicitor and this is just one instance of it. Some of the things he has done since he and dsis separated beggar belief.

I am so proud of how my dsis has coped with his antics, she has been so dignified and has just tried to facilitate a continuing relationship with him and the dc but they can see he is being an idiot and are rapidly losing interest in seeing him.

If he carries on like this I can see him losing both his job and his relationship with his dc.

Thanks prh. Yes he has been incredibly stupid, especially for a solicitor and this is just one instance of it. Some of the things he has done since he and dsis separated beggar belief.

I am so proud of how my dsis has coped with his antics, she has been so dignified and has just tried to facilitate a continuing relationship with him and the dc but they can see he is being an idiot and are rapidly losing interest in seeing him.

If he carries on like this I can see him losing both his job and his relationship with his dc.

I really hope the building society manage to build a case for fraud. We've just opened a savings account for DS, and it's very clear that all withdrawals must be for the benefit of the child. If he's admitted in a letter that he's taken the money for himself then surely he's technically stolen the money from his child?

Oops, apologies for double post.

I'm not sure exactly what the letter says. Rhiana but dsis says that when she told him she was taking it further, that he said that he had put the money in an account for the dc. His behaviour, however makes this unlikely in reality. He has adopted an extreme 'party lifestyle', together with a gf. less than half his age and that will be jeopardised now that he has to pay the maintenance set by the CSA. We think this is why he has got so nasty about it. He also refuses to pay for anything extra for the dc, if he takes them anywhere the dc have to pay their own way, so it seems very unlikely from that and the (horrible) things he has said to my dsis about money, that he will keep the cb for the benefit of the dc.

The moral situation is that he has stolen the money from his own dc but not sure what the legal position will be. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will be scared by the threat of fraud and give the money back.